Mexico senators ‘may tone down oil plan’
Photo by Reuters
Mexico's ruling conservatives are finalising a proposal to overhaul the
flagging oil sector and could appease leftists by toning down plans for
private alliances, lawmakers said.
Senators for the governing National Action Party, or PAN, were locked in
discussions over their vision for a long-awaited energy reform, and an
adviser to the party said they should complete their blueprint at the end of
the week.
PAN Senator Juan Bueno, an ex-director of state oil monopoly Pemex and on the
Senate energy committee, indicated the bill could limit the entry of private
partners to areas like refining, given left-wing opposition to oil joint
ventures.
"We are in the final phase," Santiago Creel, who leads the PAN's Senate
delegation, told reporters.
"We are not going to jeopardise oil output or oil revenues in any formula we
put forward. These are the two fundamental premises that we are working on
now in the last stage," Creel said, Reuters reported.
An energy law - President Felipe Calderon's most ambitious reform attempt
since taking power in December 2006 --is seen by all parties as vital, as
Mexico's oil output and reserves slide and a lack of refining capacity
forces higher fuel imports.
All parties want to give Pemex more flexibility and autonomy, but a split over
whether to relax barriers to private investment in oil exploration and
production is hampering lawmakers' ability to come up with a multi-party
proposal.
With only five weeks before the congressional session wraps up, the PAN could
drop its hopes of permitting risk-sharing oil contracts with foreign
partners to speed Pemex's entry into deep-water oil and settle for a more
basic reform.
"The idea is to get the best possible consensus," said the PAN advisor, who
declined to be quoted by name.
Bueno stopped short of mentioning oil partnerships in comments published by
the daily Excelsior yesterday.
Instead, Bueno said an energy bill could give Pemex more autonomy, cut its
taxes and allow private investment in less controversial areas like
refining, pipelines and storage.
26 March 2008 01:15 GMT
| last updated:
26 March 2008 05:52 GMT
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