Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 31

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

AMLO mulling reversal of energy reforms

MEXICAN President Andres Manuel Lopez included a plan to push Mexican crude oil out-
Obrador is apparently giving serious considera- put levels up to 1.8mn barrels per day (bpd) in
tion to reversing the energy reforms adopted by 2020 and again to 2.2mn bpd in 2024, it stated.
his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto. Lopez Obrador’s administration has not
The president has long been critical of the responded to press reports on the memoran-
reform package introduced by the previous dum. Nevertheless, an official familiar with the
administration in 2013. Now, though, he is document assured Bloomberg of its veracity, and
now contemplating the possibility of chang- the news agency noted that the president had
ing the constitution to protect the positions of mentioned the possibility of reversing energy
CFE, the national power provider, and Pemex, reforms during a press conference earlier in July
the national oil company (NOC), Bloomberg Pursuing a new amendment to the consti-
reported last week. tution would represent a change of course for
According to the news agency, Lopez Obra- the Mexican government. Lopez Obrador has
dor said in a recent memorandum to govern- repeatedly criticised Peña Nieto’s decision to
ment officials and energy industry regulators eliminate Pemex’s monopoly over the oil indus-
that the “higher goal” of his administration was try, and he has taken steps to restrict foreign
to ensure state control over the fuel and energy investors’ access to the sector through such
sector. To this end, Mexico City should be ready measures as suspending licensing rounds.
to pursue all available legal options, he said in So far, though, he has not gone so far as to
the document, which was dated July 22. push for wholesale reversal of his predecessor’s
“We must advance to the limit permitted policies. ™
by the current legal framework. However, if in
order to apply the new rescue policy to Pemex
and CFE we need to propose a new energy
reform, we don’t rule out that possibility,” he
wrote in the memorandum, which was viewed
by Bloomberg.
The president justified this approach by
arguing that the reforms approach had fostered
corruption, giving rise to a “politics of pillage.”
He also wrote that the previous administration
had only managed to secure approval for its ini-
tiatives through “bribes given to the majority of
lawmakers and through media deception.”
The document also included 16 propos-
als designed to beef up the energy industry,
Bloomberg said. The suggested measures The president mentioned changing the law earlier in July (Photo: LopezObrador.mx)

Sempra Energy, IENova say export

permit is holding up FID on LNG project

IENOVA, the Mexican subsidiary of Califor- Earlier this year, though, it had to push the dead-
nia-based Sempra Energy, is still hoping to line for the FID back from the first quarter to the
begin work on the Energía Costa Azul LNG second quarter
project soon, even though it is still waiting for That deadline has now passed, and represent-
Mexico’s government to issue the export permit atives of IENova and its parent company indi-
it needs to take that step. cated in a recent conference call with analysts
The company has been trying to meet all the that they were not sure when they might be able
requirements needed to take a final investment to go ahead.
decision (FID) on the scheme, which provides Fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19)
for its existing LNG import terminal near Ense- pandemic has made further delays unavoida-
nada to be converted into an export facility. ble, they said.

Week 31 06•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11