Mexico plans more Pemex tax relief, won’t rainy day fund

5/16/2019 – Bloomberg

By Amy Stillman

Mexico’s state oil company is set to receive added tax breaks to help reverse long-term production declines and avoid tapping the nation’s rainy day fund, according to its chief executive officer. The country’s Finance Ministry is opting for a new tax strategy for Petroleos Mexicanos starting next year that will provide an “important reduction” in the company’s contributions, Octavio Romero said in an interview, declining to give an estimate for the savings. The gradual cuts, to be spread over five years, would complement incremental tax breaks announced in February that were worth 90 billion pesos ($4.72 billion) over six years. He said the new tax regime will be announced in “the coming days” and it will be used instead of using about $7 billion from the Oil Revenue Stabilization Fund, known as FEIP, which had been previously proposed by the Ministry.

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Breathing in Mexico City is now like smoking six and a half cigarettes a day

5/15/2019 – Quartz

By Zoe Schlanger

Dozens of wildfires have broken out in Mexico over the past week, sending plumes of smoke drifting far beyond the burn sites to blanket population centers, including Mexico City, home to 21 million people. Officials in Mexico City have declared a state of emergency and are urging people to stay indoors, as pollution levels soar far above what’s considered healthy for human exposure. Concentrations of PM2.5—tiny particulate matter produced during any combustion, like burning trees and plants during fires—reached 158 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday.

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Mexican government announces package of measures to help Pemex finances

5/13/2019 – Reuters

By David Alire Garcia and Adriana Barrera

MEXICO CITY, May 13 (Reuters) – The Mexican government announced measures intended to help state oil company Pemex with its debt obligations, including renewal of credit lines with JP Morgan, HSBC and Mizuho, as well as a gradual tax reduction for the firm, officials said on Monday.

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Mexico’s Pemex to oversee refinery build after tender declared void – Lopez Obrador

5/9/2019 – Reuters

lopezobrador.org.mx

MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) – The construction of Mexico’s new refinery will be overseen by state oil firm Pemex after the government declared void the tender to build the facility, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.

Speaking at his regular morning news conference, Lopez Obrador said the new refinery will be built “with the coordination, administration and supervision” of Pemex and the energy ministry. Construction will begin on June 2 and conclude by May 2022, Lopez Obrador said.

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The benefits of free trade with Mexico are very real for the energy industry

5/6/2019 – Forbes

By Michael Lynch

Wikicommons

Over the last 25 years, trade with Canada and Mexico has quadrupled, almost reaching $1.3 trillion and supporting 14 million American jobs through our trading partners.The U.S. energy benefits provided through this agreement makes even more vital that we continue this trade partnership through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA).

Recently the International Trade Commission’s review of the new USMCA finds that the agreement will improve the U.S. economy broadly, raising GDP by $68 billion and employment by 176,000 jobs. This will not surprise either economists or historians, who have long noted the benefits of trade. But a closer look at the impact of North American trade for America’s energy sector is also instructive. The economic benefits of North American trade for energy underscore the critical importance of passing this agreement and why withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would be perilous.

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Mexico declares victory over fuel thieves. But is it lasting?

5/5/2019 – The New York Times

Wikicommons

By Kirk Semple

Soon after taking office in December, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared war on fuel theft, an enduring scourge that had been costing the nation billions of dollars a year.

Thieves had launched a particularly damaging attack, draining 1.5 million gallons of gasoline through a single illegal tap over 10 hours and immediately elevating the issue to the top of the administration’s agenda. But targeting the fuel theft racket as his first major security initiative also appeared to be an astute political move by Mr. López Obrador.

Brought to power on a wave of populist anger that handed him a mandate to reshape the nation, Mr. López Obrador was eager to make good on his core promises: to tackle corruption and crime and to reduce poverty and inequality by making the country’s sources of wealth work for all.

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Mexico to recover bodies of miners killed in 2006 blast

2/5/2019 – Reuters

REUTERS/Ginnette Riquelme/File Photo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged on Wednesday to recover the more than 60 remaining bodies of miners killed in a massive coal shaft explosion in 2006, a mission he described as a humanitarian promise made to victims’ families.

The announcement came on Mexico’s Labor Day holiday, and Lopez Obrador said he did not expect the company that operated the mine to oppose him.

“This is an act of justice and it’s a commitment we made going back a long time,” the president told reporters at his regular morning news conference.

He did not put a price tag on the mission, saying that “whatever is necessary” would be spent.

The Pasta de Conchos mine blast took place in northern Coahuila state.

The mine was operated by Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America’s largest miners. The company has maintained that the blast was an unfortunate accident and said it has compensated families, spending some $30 million on trying to find the 63 remaining miners.

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