The challenges facing Sheinbaum's choice for Pemex CEO

Mexico's president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has named Víctor Rodríguez Padilla CEO of national oil company Pemex.

Rodríguez Padilla holds a degree in energy engineering and is a professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He has authored academic papers and newspaper articles together with Sheinbaum.

Current Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza is a close ally of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. There had been speculation that López Obrador wanted Sheinbaum to keep Romero Oropeza. 

“Víctor is definitely preferable to Romero Oropeza," Miriam Grunstein, energy lawyer and founder of Brilliant Energy Consulting, told BNamericas. "By naming him, Sheinbaum has shown that she has some independence."

“With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Víctor knows the value chain inside-out, but he has never managed a company. But he has always been an adviser, never a businessman, and he will be under enormous political pressure.”

Rodríguez Padilla will have to find ways to manage Pemex’s US$100bn debt, while also having to increase the company's oil and gas output and expand into renewable energy generation.

At a press conference in Mexico City on Monday, Rodríguez Padilla said Pemex will keep oil production at around 1.8Mb/d.

He said the company will play a fundamental role in Mexico's energy transition and in developing renewable sources, adding that 88% of energy consumed in the country still comes from fossil fuels. 

"Pemex will not be limited to oil and gas and condensates," he said, specifying sectors including onshore and offshore wind power and lithium extraction.

Like Sheinbaum and López Obrador, Rodríguez Padilla is a defender of energy sovereignty and of the role of state-owned energy companies. 

At the press conference, he claimed the energy policies of previous governments, which opened the sector to private investment, had resulted in lower oil and gas output at Pemex and higher debt.

Pemex will continue to pay its debt regularly, he said.

Sheinbaum announced that she’ll provide details about her energy plan at a subsequent press conference. As well as the future of Pemex, the plan will cover the role of state-owned utility CFE and the contribution of the private sector.

"We will coordinate investments with the private sector," Rodríguez Padilla said, citing projects such as the Zama field that is being developed by Pemex with private partners Harbour Energy, Wintershall Dea and Talos Energy.  

Rodríguez Padilla will take the helm when Sheinbaum's government assumes office on October 1.