UPDATE 1-Mexico’s Pemex reaches deal to see if Talos find reaches its block

9/21/2018 – Reuters

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Mexican state oil firm Pemex has reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by Talos Energy to evaluate whether the group’s find in the Gulf of Mexico extends into a neighboring Pemex block, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.

The deal, which covers territory in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is the first of its kind for Pemex and will be in force for two years.

The Talos consortium, which includes Britain’s Premier Oil and Mexico’s Sierra Oil & Gas, won development rights for two blocks during the first oil auction launched by President Enrique Pena Nieto. Held in 2015, the auction marked the end of Pemex’s decades-long monopoly.

Read more…

Advertisements

Mexico telecom regulator investigates streaming market

09/18/2018 – Reuters 

Mexico’s telecommunications regulator on Tuesday said it was investigating “probable” monopoly practices in the market for streaming online content, including the sale of devices to watch TV online.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute said in a notice published in the government’s daily gazette that it had opened the investigation due to a complaint, but it did not name any specific companies.

The statement said the authority was investigating potential contracts or agreements to unduly displace competitors, prevent them from entering the market or set exclusive advantages in favor of one or more companies.

Read more…

Walmart to buy Cornershop delivery service for Mexico unit Walmex

---

09/13/2018 – Reuters 

Mexico’s biggest retailer Walmart de Mexico said on Thursday that its parent company Walmart Inc. reached a deal to buy Latin American food delivery service Cornershop Inc. for $225 million.

The company, known as Walmex, also said its parent plans to immediately or soon sell Cornershop’s Mexico operations to Walmex. Cornershop also operates in Chile.

“The Cornershop acquisition marks a big step towards achieving our objective of becoming the best omnichannel retailer in Mexico,” Walmex Guilherme Loureiro said in a statement filed with the Mexican stock exchange.

Read more: 

Aeromexico pilots to strike over loss of benefits after crash

09/12/2018 – Reuters 

Unionized pilots of Aeromexico, Mexico’s largest airline, said on Tuesday they plan to strike on Oct. 1 over the airline’s decision to suspend some employee benefits after a crash in northern Mexico in late July.

In a preliminary report last week, Mexico’s civil aviation agency said bad weather likely caused the crash that injured dozens of people, adding that there was no evidence of human error or mechanical failures. The agency, however, found that a pilot in training, who was not authorized by the company, briefly served as copilot during the takeoff.

In response, Aeromexico last week said it had fired the three pilots who were in the cabin and announced new rules for crew, including the elimination of a provision that allowed pilots to fly in the cabin for free.

Read more: 

Slim’s America Movil Challenges Pemex Contract Awarded to Televisa Group

09/11/2018 – The New York Times

Billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil and Mexico’s state oil firm have become embroiled in a public fight over a government contract after the telecommunications giant filed complaints and a legal challenge, saying it unfairly lost the bid.

A rival group, including a unit of Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa <TLVACPO.MX>, won a contract in June for nearly $36 million to provide internet to the oil company known as Pemex.

America Movil had presented a cheaper offer of roughly $24.5 million, a company spokesman said, and went on to file complaints against Pemex.

A Pemex spokesman said on Monday that the company expects to respond in several days but has not set an exact date.

 

Read more: 

Apple, Ford Urged by Trump to Move Jobs Home. They Probably Won’t.

09/10/2018 – Bloomberg 

President Donald Trump insists his trade war with China will spur more manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Two of the companies he’s targeted — Apple Inc. and Ford Motor Co. — disagree.

In a tweet Sunday, Trump said Ford’s decision not to import a new crossover vehicle from China means the Focus Active “can now be built in the U.S.A.”

The automaker has already said that it has no plans to manufacture the vehicle in the U.S. Ford announced on Aug. 31 that the Trump administration’s 25 percent levy on China-built autos undermined the profitability of importing it.

 

Read more…

 

AMLO Targets $3.9 Billion in New Oil Investment

09/10/2018 – Bloomberg 

Source: Eneas De Troya, Flickr

Mexico’s next president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will allocate 75 billion pesos ($3.9 billion) in the budget next year to oil extraction in a bid to resuscitate flagging output.

“We are going to allocate budget resources, we are going to make an effort to adjust current spending in order to have more public spending and from the private sector,” said Lopez Obrador on Saturday, according to a statement on his website. “Most of it will go to the energy sector next year. We want to invest 75 billion pesos in extraction, in addition to the 65 billion pesos.”

His proposed 75 billion pesos of spending is equivalent to about 44 percent of Pemex’s budget for oil exploration and production this year. He didn’t specify what the 65 billion pesos was allocated for. His government will spend 50 billion pesos on existing refineries and 50 billion pesos for the startup of a new one, he said to oil industry members on Sept. 8 in a meeting in Villahermosa, Tabasco, that included his pick for Pemex Chief Executive Officer Octavio Romero and Rocio Nahle, Mexico’s next energy minister.

 

Read more…