Personal Information:
Iván López Ruiz serves as a Consultant to Tinoco, Travieso, Planchart & Núñez since 2026. He has over 30 years of experience advising domestic and international companies, particularly in the oil and gas industry. His expertise encompasses the legal, regulatory, and tax frameworks governing hydrocarbons, production-sharing agreements, joint ventures, offshore gas licenses, and international contracting. He has also been involved in structuring strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, legal due diligence, and corporate governance matters.
He is the founder of López Ruiz & Asociados, where he has spent a significant part of his professional career. Previously, he served as a tax attorney in the Oil and Gas Sector Audit Division of Venezuela’s National Integrated Customs and Tax Administration Service (SENIAT) and has served as an Associate Judge of the Higher Tax Courts. His practice also extends to tax and customs advisory matters, including tax audits, tax recovery proceedings, and special tax regimes applicable to oil and gas projects.
Education:
• Universidad Central de Venezuela, Law Degree, 1994.
• Universidad Central de Venezuela, postgraduate studies in law.
Academic activities:
• Professor of “Indirect Taxation”, Universidad Santa María, 1997–2012.
• Professor of “Constitutional Principles of Taxation”, Escuela Nacional de Administración y Hacienda Pública, 1995–1998.
• Professor of “Tax Case Law and Administrative Doctrine”, Graduate School of the Colegio de Contadores Públicos de Caracas, 2007–2009.
Judicial activities:
Activities:
• Member of the Venezuelan Association of Tax Law (AVDT).
Publications:
• “Flexibility as a Guiding Principle of Venezuela’s New Hydrocarbon Tax Regime,” in Journal of the Venezuelan Tax Law Association, No. 191, forthcoming.
• “Municipal Taxation and Private-Sector Activities Involving Non-Associated Natural Gas,” in 20th Venezuelan Tax Law Conference, Vol. I: Oil and Gas Taxation, Venezuelan Tax Law Association, 2023.
• “The Illegality of the Foreign Exchange Regime Applicable to the Export Sector,” in Public Law Review No. 165, 2021.
Languages:
Spanish and English.