| | |  Business News | October 2008 
Mexico Energy Reforms OK'd for Final Vote Next Week
 Reuters
go to original
Mexico City - A committee of Mexico's lower house of Congress approved a package of energy reforms Saturday aimed at bringing private-sector expertise into the state-run oil sector, setting up a final congressional vote as early as Tuesday.
The Chamber of Deputies energy committee voted to pass all seven bills with no changes from the versions that cleared the Senate Thursday, rejecting amendments offered by leftist lawmakers, most of whom walked out of the session in protest.
The reforms, backed by President Felipe Calderon, loosen restrictions on the types of service contracts state oil company Pemex may offer to private-sector firms. Leftists say the measures go too far in allowing Pemex to pay contractors for oil exploration and production.
Mexican oil production has fallen to its lowest level since 1995 as output from the country's main oil field, Cantarell, has begun to fall rapidly.
Backers of the reforms say the legislation will enable Pemex to raise the capital and hire the contractors needed to explore for new fields in the unexplored deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which are widely believed to hold substantial undiscovered oil reserves. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us