Pemex Board to Consider Ex-City Official as CFO Next Week

(Bloomberg) -- The board of Petroleos Mexicanos is set to consider a Mexico City finance official for the job of chief financial officer at the state-run oil company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. 

Juan Carlos Carpio Fragoso, a close ally of incoming Energy Minister Luz Elena Gonzalez, will be considered next week during a board meeting where several strategic nominations for Pemex will be discussed, the people said, requesting anonymity because the discussion isn’t public.

Carpio was general director of financial administration for Mexico City when President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum was the mayor and Gonzalez was finance minister of the capital.

A spokesman for Pemex didn’t immediately comment. 

The incoming leadership of Pemex will face the gargantuan task of turning around production that has slumped to about half its peak 20 years ago. The company’s debt burden stands at about $99.4 billion, making it the world’s most indebted oil producer. It’s been saddled with deadly fires, oil spills and methane leaks in recent years as its infrastructure crumbles. It relies heavily on government handouts to stay afloat.

Sheinbaum, who takes office on Oct. 1, has echoed her predecessor’s policies of support for state-owned energy companies, but has also spoken of a need to refinance Pemex’s debt next year before large maturities come due. 

Sheinbaum named Victor Rodriguez Padilla, an energy economist and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, for the company’s top job in August. 

Among nominations the board will consider next week are that of Nestor Martinez for head of production and exploration, and Carlos Lechuga for head of industrial transformation, the area that looks at refining and petrochemicals. 

(Updates with additional names to be considered by the board in final paragraph.)

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