November 18, 2002
CEO of PEMEX to Speak on Future of Mexican Oil Industry
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Austin, TX – Raúl Muñoz Leos, director general (CEO) of Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the largest public enterprise in the world and the largest oil and gas exploration firm in the Western Hemisphere, discusses the energy giant’s future at a speech on the UT-Austin campus Thursday, Nov. 21.
Mexico is the third largest oil producer on earth, and its $40 billion in annual income accounts for one-third of the nation’s annual revenue. Most of the country’s petroleum sales are to the United States. Mexico is the United States’ second largest trading partner.
In his lecture, “PEMEX in the Decade Ahead,” Munoz Leos will discuss the principal challenges facing the firm today, as well as addressing future exploration, productivity and efficiency.
The director of the huge state-run oil and gas exploration firm will also talk about the use of reserves, the decline of known natural gas reserves, and how he plans to improve PEMEX’s business management and competitiveness. The latter was a prime marching order that Mexican President Vicente Fox gave Munoz Leos as director general of the oil conglomerate.
Fox appointed Muñoz Leos in 2001 to fulfill a campaign promise of running PEMEX more like a private company while increasing future profitability and efficiency. Muñoz Leos, a chemical engineer, was CEO of DuPont Mexico before heading PEMEX.
PEMEX is a formidable economic presence and an important player in international oil markets. It is ranked number 92 in Fortune’s Global 500 and has over 140,000 employees.
The conglomerate was established in 1938 when Mexico nationalized oil operations, taking control out of foreign hands. Mexico has resisted most foreign investment in the oil industry since, but free-trading President Vicente Fox is now attempting to reverse that trend, opening the country’s massive but cloistered energy sector to foreign investment. At the same time Fox would like to reduce the nation’s dependency on oil revenue.
The lecture is open to the public and will be at 6:00 p.m. at Bass Lecture Hall on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
For more information, contact Ehud Ronn, director of the McCombs School Center for Energy Finance Education and Research at (512) 471-5853.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
