Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 47 2020

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

CFE may gain greater control of gas sector

MEXICO’S government has reportedly the gas sector, according to Rosanety Barrios, a
assigned nearly all responsibility for domestic Mexico-based consultant who helped draft the
natural gas supplies to a state-controlled com- energy reforms. “It ratifies the complete control
pany, the national power provider CFE. of CFE over the gas in the country,” she told S&P
According to a report from S&P Global Global Platts last week.
Platts, the government outlined its new policy The news service also quoted Rodrigo
in a new five-year infrastructure development Rosas, a senior research and gas analyst with
plan that was published with little fanfare on Wood Mackenzie, as saying that the new strat-
the website of the Energy Secretariat (SENER) egy would probably benefit CFE and another
in early November. In that plan, it said its intent state-controlled entity – Pemex, the national oil
was to ensure that CFE, as the country’s largest and gas operator. Rosas noted that the govern-
electricity provider and gas distributor, could ment had not given any sign that its plan would
obtain what it needed to sustain its operations. allow for the resumption of open-season bid-
To this end, the plan calls for the construction ding for gas supplies, which was suspended after
of nearly 300 km of new gas pipelines and two Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018.
new compression stations in order to facilitate “[It] is easy to infer they will continue to hold
gas deliveries to south-eastern Mexico and the [open seasons] back, making Pemex and CFE
Yucatan Peninsula. It also provides for the estab- the only distributors of gas in the country,” he
lishment of three new gas hubs in Dulces Nom- commented. As a result, the country’s new gas
bres, Leona Vicario and Madero, and for the hubs will not be able to create price indexes, he
expansion of the Montegrande interconnector. said. ™
Industry observers have pointed out that the
government’s plan is in line with efforts by pop-
ulist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
to make state-owned companies and the public
sector the main drivers of Mexico’s economic
recovery.
It also represents another step away from the
energy reforms that were adopted in 2013-2014,
during the administration of Lopez Obrador’s
market-minded predecessor, Enrique Peña
Nieto.
Those reforms sought to loosen state-run
enterprises’ control over the Mexican economy,
and they cannot be formally repealed without
amending the country’s constitution. However,
the current president has been doing whatever
he can to prioritise state-controlled companies
such as CFE.
The effect of Lopez Obrador’s campaign has
been to cement CFE’s dominant position in Mexico’s president has been trying to support CFE and other state firms (Photo: File)

COLOMBIA
Colombia to sign onshore contracts

with two Canadian companies

THE government of Colombia is expected to from other firms during a recent energy auc-
sign contracts with two Canadian oil and gas tion. It named the Canadian companies as CNE
companies for several onshore blocks. Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Canacol Energy, and
The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) the Colombian arm of Parex Resources, and said
explained last week that it was taking this step it would sign contracts for four onshore blocks
because it had not received any counteroffers later this month or in early December.

Week 47 26•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11