Energy reform is likely to be one of the most important sweeping legislative changes that an incoming Mexican government will address, experts said Wednesday at a Houston conference on energy issues. The PRI government, which led the government for most of last century and who won the 2012 election, has indicated that it may consider expanding opportunities for private and international companies to help it expand needed infrastructure to develop its natural resources, including a wealth of natural gas.
One of the key issues is whether any reforms will focus on Mexico’s state-owned energy company, PEMEX, or will make more sweeping, fundamental changes. Either way will open up additional energy supply, said Duncan Wood, the director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center “That is a crazy situation for a country that has the fourth largest share of natural gas in the world,” Duncan said. “PEMEX can’t do it alone. It doesn’t have the know-how and technological experience to work in deeper waters and on shale.”
Andrew Selee, Vice President for Programs at the Wilson Center and Senior Advisor to the Mexico Institute, wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, titled “The New Reality at the Border.” Selee asserts that in the future, illegal immigration flows to the U.S. are likely to come from places farther away than Mexico, due to the deterrent effect of increased border security, the well-performing Mexican economy, and Mexico’s changing demographic profile.
To read Duncan Wood’s statement from the hearing click here
Duncan Wood, Director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere on March 14, 2013. The hearing, titled “U.S. Energy Security: Enhancing Partnerships with Mexico and Canada,” included a discussion of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement.
Christopher Wilson, Associate at the Mexico Institute, wrote an opinion piece for Animal Politico, a news site on Mexican politics. The op-ed encourages Mexico and the United States to develop a regional competitiveness agenda that envisions North America as the most competitive region in the world, addressing issues such as efficient border management, bilateral cooperation on international trade negotiations, regulatory harmonization, trade liberalization in services such as transportation and healthcare, and the simplification of customs procedures.
In another bold move, the Enrique Peña Nieto government has presented legislation to the Mexican Congress that is aimed at reducing the power and monopolistic control that is currently held by the dominant players in the country’s telecommunications sector. The legislation, which appears to have a strong chance of passing through the legislature, is a further attempt by the government to wrest back control of the economy and Mexican politics from the so-called “poderes fácticos,” or vested interests. It shows the effectiveness both of the government’s approach, and of the negotiating mechanism that it is employing in its legislative agenda, namely the Pacto Por México.
The telecoms reform is far-reaching and revolutionary. First, it aims to create a new independent regulatory body that will have the power to restrain companies that have more than 50 percent of the market, and in turn will offer an opening to new, smaller firms. At its most extreme, the regulator will have the power to break up dominant firms, forcing them to sell assets. But the regulator will also possess the power to set maximum prices for interconnections, currently seen as being a severe obstacle to the emergence of rival firms in the fixed-line and wireless market.
On March 14, 2013, Duncan Wood, Director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The hearing, titled “U.S. Energy Security: Enhancing Partnerships with Mexico and Canada,” included a discussion of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement.
Yesterday’s PGR arrest of Elba Esther Gordillo on charges of embezzlement marks a bold step forward by the Pena Nieto administration to establish its authority and legitimacy in the eyes of the Mexican public, and to send a message to Mexico’s most powerful unions. The arrest comes after the successful passage of an education reform bill through Congress, earning the government plaudits from international observers, who saw it as a much-needed attack on the power of the teachers union, the SNTE, but receiving a skeptical response from many national critics who believed that the government would not follow through with implementation of the new laws. This new development destroys those doubts about the seriousness of the Pena Nieto government to take on the union, and to mobilize the sovereign power of the state against vested interests.
The sudden explosion at the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned oil company killed at least 32 people and injured 121, officials said on Friday, a day after the powerful blast shattered windows, shook the ground and sent thousands of employees fleeing into a panicked downtown.
“You pull all of this together and you say, well, if they can’t even guarantee safety in their own building, their own headquarters, what does that tell us about the company?” said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “It tells us there are things seriously wrong there. It tells you things need to be seriously shaken up.”
By Duncan Wood, comments on the Roundtable series of the Canadian International Council, 1/21/2013
As U.S. President Barack Obama begins his second term, he faces a number of major challenges and deep divisions on the domestic front. But for the first time in living memory, a U.S. president can look forward to a four-year period in which the country’s energy policy is characterized by abundance, rather than scarcity.
The past four years have seen a revolution in the hydrocarbons industry across the world, but it has been particularly keenly felt in the United States. The advent of shale gas has meant lower energy costs and increased competitiveness for business. In oil production, developments in hydraulic fracturing and new discoveries have made a mockery of the claims of “peak oil” a few years ago.
Coinciding U.S. and Mexican presidential elections offer a natural opportunity to look at the evolving context of bilateral relations and look forward for ways to strengthen ties. The Mexico Institute is pleased to launch an electronic version of its new policy report, “New Ideas for a New Era: Policy Options for the Next Stage in U.S.-Mexico Relations,” by Christopher E. Wilson, Eric L. Olson, Miguel R. Salazar, Andrew Selee, and Duncan Wood. The policy report highlights five key issues with the potential to strengthen U.S.-Mexico relations. A printed version of this report will be available shortly.
FuelFix, 5/15/2013
Posted by mexicoinstitute 
