Program archives

Gustavo Coronel is an international energy consultant, and former Head of the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC. He has risen from field petroleum geologist to become a founding member of the Board of Directors for Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), with a career spanning thirty-five years in management and in the international petroleum industry, including leadership positions in industry, state government, academia, and journalism.

He holds degrees in geology from the University of Tulsa (1955) and the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1961), a masters in International Public Policy, SAIS, from Johns Hopkins University (1987), and was a Fellow, Center for International Affairs, at Harvard (1981-83).

Mr. Coronel has been Associate Editor of Petroleumworld.com; Director of Corporate Programs for Latin America, Foreign Policy, 2004-2006; an International Energy and Public Policy Consultant, Washington DC, 2003-present; President of the Port of Puerto Cabello, the second largest port in South America, 1999-2000; Secretary of Planning and Finances, State of Carabobo, Venezuela (managing a budget the size of Nicaragua), 1996-98; Chief Operating Officer, Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, a $20 billion state-owned Venezuelan conglomerate; and has held many positions in the international petroleum industry. He has held academic appointments at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, the Universidad Católica de Guayaquil, and George Washington University, and is the author of several publications, including “Corruption, Mismanagement and Abuse of Power in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela” (CATO Institute Policy Paper, Nov. 2006).