Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
12/22/2021
Source: Reuters
The U.S. government has authorized the purchase by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) of Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) controlling interest in a Texas oil refinery in a transaction that should conclude early next year, Mexico’s government said Wednesday.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference that the U.S. government had on Tuesday approved the purchase of the Deer Park refinery stake by state-run Pemex, calling it “very good news.”
12/22/2021
Source: Al Jazeera
This year’s political moves surrounding Mexico’s lithium reserves have tested the limits of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (AMLO) pledges to keep the country’s most precious natural resources firmly in Mexican hands.
In October, AMLO unveiled a sweeping energy reform bill that included nationalising Mexico’s lithium deposits as a strategic mineral – a move that threw into doubt China’s ability to lock in a critical reserve of lithium to support its green energy transition plans.
Source: World Oil
MEXICO CITY (Bloomberg) –Mexico could slash Pemex’s taxes further as the world’s most indebted oil company scrambles to reverse long-term oil production declines.
“With Pemex, for example, we are constantly or periodically lowering taxes so they have more funds,” said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during his daily press conference on Monday. “And we can lower them more.”
In September, the government cut Pemex’s profit-sharing duty to 40% for 2022 from 54% in 2021. Last week, Pemex announced that it will receive a $3.5 billion capital injection from the government as part of a transaction to pay down obligations and also embark on a series of bond buybacks and new issuance to reduce the cost of servicing its borrowings.
Source: Fox News
Sen. John Kennedy, the top Republican on the Energy and Water subcommittee on Appropriations, is putting pressure on the Biden administration to put a stop to the arbitrary seizures of U.S. oil supplies by the Mexican government.
In a letter sent to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday, the Louisiana Republican said White House inaction to “reopen American assets” would prompt him to block Brad Crabtree as assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management, along with several others up for top jobs at the Department of Energy.
Source: Reuters
Leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico are set to agree to new methane curbs and COVID-19 vaccine donations when they meet for the first time in five years on Thursday, according to senior Biden administration officials.
The U.S. officials expect the three North American countries to agree to cut methane emissions in their oil-and-gas sectors by 60% to 75% by 2030, as the countries work to curb here the potent greenhouse gas.
11/03/2021
Source: Mexico News Daily
An illegal pipeline tap is to blame for an LP gas leak that caused an explosion that claimed the life of one person and seriously injured eight others in Puebla city early Sunday, a state oil company official said.
Javier González del Villar, director of Pemex’s logistics division, said the leak in San Pablo Xochimehuacán in the city’s north end occurred after thieves perforated the pipeline to extract gas into a tanker owned by the company Hidro Gas. At least two other explosions occurred after a powerful initial blast.
Source: Mexico News Daily
Carbon emissions and power generation costs will both increase substantially if President López Obrador’s proposed electricity reform passes Congress, according to a United States government agency.
Sent to Congress at the start of October, the constitutional bill would guarantee 54% of the power market to the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
10/20/2021
Source: AP News
Texas congressmen complained Tuesday about the Mexican government’s attempts to limit competition in the electrical power sector.
In a letter to U.S. Ambassador Ken Salzar, about 20 Texas congressmen and senators criticized changes proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to restrict the market share of private power generators and favor Mexico’s state-owned utility company.
10/04/2021
Source: World Nuclear News
In a press conference at Cuernavaca on 1 October, López Obrador said that reforms put to the Chamber of Deputies on 30 September would give CFE its rightful place in the power system. They would effectively undo reforms made in 2014 intended to increase competition.
Obrador said that private companies had been encouraged to enter the Mexican power market at CFE’s expense. He said they had been able to generate power and make money while CFE power plants were required to be idle, and were able to use the national power grid for no cost.
09/07/2021
Source: Mexico News Daily
A United States energy company has submitted notices of dispute to the federal government over a decision to take away its control of a shallow water oil field in the Gulf of Mexico.
Houston-based Talos Energy intends to fight the decision by the Energy Ministry (Sener) to designate the state oil company Pemex as the operator of the Zama field, which contains almost 700 million barrels of oil.
Mexico Institute 