Maduro Overhauls Oil Company to Defeat "Incubated" Corruption

Venezuela's president on Sunday created an executive vice president post and named new vice presidents to lead PDVSA in what he described as a shake-up of the state oil company and an effort to root out corruption in the OPEC nation's principal industry.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro kept Eulogio Del Pino as PDVSA president but created a new post of executive vice president while naming vice presidents in areas including finance and exploration, Reuters reported.

PDVSA has been dogged for years by corruption ranging from lucrative smuggling of heavily subsidized fuel to kickbacks and bribery that led to prosecution of US-based contractors who did business with the company. "We have to clean out the corruption that has incubated in (the oil industry), I call on the oil workers to forcefully defeat corruption," Maduro said in his weekly broadcast.

"That's why I have asked Eulogio del Pino to lead this new leadership team and focus one hundred percent on the industry this year."

Leadership changes at PDVSA in recent years have not significantly altered the company's management style, which has been characterized by heavy social spending, slumping crude production and chronic payment disputes with suppliers.