Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 19 2022

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

AMLO wants Pemex to divulge

information on Vitol bribes

MEXICAN President Andres Manuel Lopez legal motions on several occasions since then,
Obrador said on May 10 that he intended to the most recent of which occurred earlier this
ask the national oil company (NOC) Pemex for spring.
information on bribes allegedly paid to govern- In the meantime, Reuters said, it has also
ment officials by Vitol, a Swiss-based commodi- attempted to probe more deeply into the alleged
ties trading firm. The latter company is currently incidents of bribery.
being sued by the NOC on charges related to The NOC took legal action against Vitol
bribery allegations. shortly after wrapping up spending months
Speaking during his daily press conference, re-negotiating several contracts worth hundreds
Lopez Obrador indicated that the government of millions of US dollars. Pemex had cancelled
had been made aware that Pemex had knowl- the original contracts, calling them insufficiently
edge of the matter. “Apparently, the informa- favourable to Mexico City, and announced that
tion about who received those bribes is already it would not sign any new contracts with the
known,” he said, according to a Reuters report. trader.
“We’re going to ask Pemex to report on this Lopez Obrador’s government has repeatedly
today.” expressed concern about corruption related to
The president did not say whether Mexico dealings with international commodities trad-
City had learned that Pemex was up to date on ing firms, and Vitol is not the only company to
the matter through its own internal investiga- feel the weight of that concern. Last autumn,
tions or because Vitol had named the officials Mexico City suspended five of Singapore-based
who took the bribes. Nor did he offer any details Trafigura’s fuel import contracts. ™
about the nature of the government’s request to
Pemex.
Vitol, for its part, declined to comment when
contacted by Reuters.
For its part, the NOC said in a statement pub-
lished later on May 10 that it had been working
to discover the names of the people who had
accepted the bribes. Thus far, the statement said,
Vitol has been telling Pemex that it does not have
the names of the individuals involved.
Pemex filed suit against Vitol in December
2020, complaining that the Swiss-based trader
had disrupted its business operations through
bribery and corruption. It then broadened the
scope of the legal action in February 2021 and
has introduced new evidence to the court via The president claims Pemex knows who received the bribes (File Photo)

NICARAGUA
Owji says Iran is considering investing

in new oil refinery project in Nicaragua

FOLLOWING high-level meetings in Vene- Nicaragua, where he told reporters that Iran
zuela last week, Iran has said it is considering would study a potential investment in an oil
investing in a new refinery in Nicaragua. refinery at the Supremo Sueño de Bolivar indus-
As part of his tour of Latin America, Iranian trial complex (CIESSB) near Puerto Sandino on
Oil Minister Javad Owji met with officials in the country’s Pacific coast.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 12•May•2022