Colombian President Petro names former head of oil workers union as Energy Minister

(Bloomberg) – Colombia’s Gustavo Petro is expected to name Edwin Palma as the nation’s new energy minister following weeks of tumultuous changes inside his cabinet.

Palma, the former head of Colombia’s main oil workers union, will have to pursue Petro’s pledge to wean the nation off its dependence on fossil fuels. His CV was uploaded to the presidency’s website on Thursday morning, a traditional procedure for incoming government officials.

He has been part of Ecopetrol SA’s board since March of last year and replaces Andrés Camacho, who had been in the role for nearly two years and will be campaigning ahead of next year’s presidential elections. A lawyer, Palma worked at the state oil producer for more than two decades and was head of its main workers union, known as USO, between 2018 and 2021.

Petro is scheduled to introduce his new cabinet on Thursday in an attempt to cement his legacy and set his progressive movement up for a win in next year’s election. Petro’s ban on new oil and gas exploration prompted the need for costly imports with a bigger carbon footprint. Camacho, his former energy minister, blamed private companies for raising prices.

Palma, who served as deputy labor minister under the same administration, will have to mediate tensions between the government and the energy sector. The government has failed to distribute nearly 3 trillion pesos ($730 million) in subsidies to power companies, leaving some at risk of shutting down, potentially leading to power cuts. 

Ecopetrol will elect new board members, including Palma’s replacement, at the end of March. Last year, two members of the board seen as independent resigned after citing disagreements with the driller’s decision to pull out of a $3.6 billion deal to buy a stake in Texas shale-oil assets from Occidental Petroleum Corp.