Rafael Ramírez (Venezuela)

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Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño is a Venezuelan engineer and politician. He is the current president of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA. He once served as Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mines. He was appointed to that position on July 2002 by current Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Ramirez once headed Venezuela's Enegas, an energy watchdog and regulatory agency. Ramírez, a mechanical engineer, has a wide experience in the development, coordination and management of engineering and construction projects for the Venezuelan oil and gas industry. Ramírez was the founding president of Enagas, the national gas entity responsible for structuring the national gas plan, and thus responsible for the design, development and promotion of the state policies for this sector. In July 2002 was appointed as minister of Energy and Mines by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez Frías. The Ministry of Energy and Mines became Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in January 2005. On November 20, 2004, Ramírez was appointed president of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), a position he holds concurrently with that of minister of Energy and Petroleum. Ramírez graduated from Los Andes University, Venezuela, and also holds a master of science degree in energy