Friday, February 22, 2008

Mexico's PRI Limits Opening of Oil to Border Fields


Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico's opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party is pushing to limit foreign or private investment in the state oil monopoly to offshore fields near the U.S. border, a senator said.

The party agrees that Petroleos Mexicanos needs alliances with foreign companies to prevent U.S.-based producers from depleting fields that straddle the border before Mexico can get to them, Sen. Francisco Labastida told Televisa television today. Brazil's state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Norway's StatoilHydro ASA would be suitable partners, he said.

Labastida, head of the Senate Energy Committee, is one of his party's top negotiators with President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, which is seeking support for a broader overhaul of energy laws. Calderon says state company Petroleos Mexicanos needs the help of foreign companies throughout the Gulf of Mexico to halt a decline in crude output and reserves.

Labastida said the two parties are yet to reach agreements on the scope of the energy bill.


This story is significant because it not only affects Mexico's government but the governments of the surrounding countries as well. This decision should be profitable for multiple countries.

GRADE THIS POST

No comments: