“The possible incorporation of Alejandro Narvaez to the board of directors of Petroperú “This is terrible news, as it means replacing a professional board of directors with a president with a political profile,” said the president of Confiep, Alfonso Bustamante Canny.
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Bustamante expressed his concern, pointing out that, firstly, Narváez is a politician; secondly, he faces questions; and thirdly, he does not have the merit of having solved a complex business problem.
Another factor that led to Bustamante’s rejection of Narváez is that the former Minister of Energy and Mines, Óscar Vera, is part of his group.
“What is needed is to generate confidence. Appointing politicians to the board of Petroperú further reduces the chances of success of the restructuring (of the oil company),” he told Canal N.
Similarly, Felipe Cantuarias, president of the Hydrocarbons Society, said that Narváez does not fit the profile for the position, so his appointment would send a bad message.
“The government would be wrong to appoint a person who was generating distrust among Petroperú’s investors and creditors, which will contribute to a perception of political interference in a company that today needs to strengthen its corporate governance,” said the expert.
The hydrocarbon expert and columnist for this newspaper, Anthony Laub, said that Alejandro Narváez is a pro-statist person and his management of Petroperú went unnoticed. “Why should it be different now?” he said.
It has been more than a week since Oliver Stark’s board resigned from Petroperú, but his replacement has not yet been officially announced. However, the return of the former president of the oil company (he was there between 2003 and 2005), Alejandro Narváez, is sounding increasingly strong, as he has the support of President Dina Boluarte, but not of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which has generated concern in various sectors.
The controversy arises, among other things, due to his connection with the left-wing party Juntos por el Perú, but also due to his recent comments on the current situation of the oil company. In statements to RPP, the former official said that the situation of the company is “overestimated”, without taking into account that this company has a debt of more than US$8.5 billion.
Changes
On the other hand, what has not yet been discussed in greater detail is that part of the restructuring plan proposed by the previous board of directors of Petroperú states that the company’s workers should be relocated to other public institutions, due to the surplus of labor in the company.
Recently, the Minister of Economy and Finance, José Arista, also referred to the fact that there are 33 benefits for the state-owned workers that come from union negotiations and that put a greater burden on the oil company. For this reason, he asked Parliament to work on a project that puts a limit on these fripperies.
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