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Mexico City (AFP) – Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel López Obrador has been a harsh critic of the landmark energy reform that is the country's oil sector, but the anti-establishment
Lopez Obrador, who won a landslide victory in Mexico's July 1 elections, is famous for bashing the 2014 reform, which ended in a 76-year monopoly by state oil company.
He President Enrique Pena Nieto's proudest achievements, an act of "treason" comparable to the agreement to fork over half Mexico's territory to the United States after the Mexican-American War in 1848.
The new president Nostalgic for the days when Mexico was the world's largest oil exporter, and the nationalization of the sector in 1938.
But he will need the private investment he was so fond of criticizing on the campaign trail he he wants to fulfill his promises to restore the ailing Pemex to its glory days and make Mexico self-sufficient in gasoline for the first time in years, according to energy experts. [19659006
We have a long history of taxing the Mexican government,
Weighed down by heavy taxes and unable to invest in production, the firm has struggled with declining production for years – from a peak of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to around two million this year.
Mexico has meanwhile fallen to 15th place on the list of world oil exporters.
"This is a job that Pemex Can not Do Alone. "Said Ixchel Castro, an analyst at the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
– Auctions halted –
The reform threw open the door to foreign firms like Shell, Total , BP, Chevron and Exxon-Mobil, which has all bid for $ 150 billion in investment commitments.
So far, the government has held 14 auctions, attracting 75 companies from 20 countries and signing more than 100 contracts.
Lopez Obrador, who takes office on December 1, wants to halt the auctions while his government reviews the contracts for evidence of corruption.
But many analysts agree the auctions are likely to resume, even if Lopez Obrador has to do it with clenched teeth.
building new Pemex refineries so Mexico can stop importing US gasoline.
"If they decide to do that alone, the industry will obviously be much greater," said Castro. ] – Uncertainty is expensive –
In the meantime, the uncertainty could be costly, as other oil producing countries compete to investors
"Investors are looking for a system, for political and institutional stability that remains in place even When there is a change in government, "said Javier Diaz, an analyst at S & P Global Platts.
Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) announced Wednesday it was postponing all three of its currently scheduled auctions until February 14, after Lopez Obrador takes
The move was aimed at giving it time to discuss with the incoming administration of the oil companies, it said.
he said: "Eurasia Group said the consulting firm Eurasia Group said it would be a good idea for the future of the Eurasia Group.
"The prospects of a deterioration in the sector are already starting to have a negative impact."
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