Mexican President Demands Energy Reform By Consensus

Text of report by respected Mexican business newspaper El Financiero website on 18 July

[Report by Eduardo Ortega: Felipe Calderon Asks Congress for Energy Reform by Consensus]

The political forces represented in the Congress of the Union must reach an agreement to approve an energy reform that includes the different viewpoints of all of the parties, President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa said.

The federal chief executive started up a programme to improve the air quality in the Guanajuato cities of Salamanca and Leon, where pollution rates are very high because of intense industrial activity.

There, accompanied by oil workers’ union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps, Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel, and Mexican Petroleum (Pemex) Director General Jesus Reyes Heroles, the president asked legislators to reach a consensus on a pluralist energy reform.

“I know we can go faster, Guanajuato friends, if we Mexicans can manage to agree on a reform that will strengthen Mexican Petroleum and include the different viewpoints of all the parties.

“A reform that, in fact, includes the Mexican people in the goal, which I’m sure we all share -the government, citizens, and workers – of strengthening Pemex and finding ways to allow it to produce more and better oil, gas, gasoline, petrochemicals, or refined products,” he said.

Nevertheless, in once again defending the oil reform proposal that he sent to the Congress of the Union, he emphasized that if we really want to protect the country’s energy sovereignty, we must stop depending on other countries and be self-sufficient in the production of gasoline and other petroleum products.

Reversing Dependence

He added that his reform seeks to reverse our country’s energy dependence on other countries, since four of every 10 litres of automobile gasoline is currently imported.

So, the politician from Michoacan emphasized that his proposal would allow the fulfilment of priority needs, like the reconfiguration of all of the country’s refineries, including the one in Salamanca, and in that way increase their profitability.

He added that new refineries could be built at the same time in the Pacific region, near the Gulf, and in the centre of the republic, with state-of-the-art technology, so that Pemex can compete with the big oil companies around the world, with total labour stability and absolute respect for workers’ rights.

In addition, he said that if the so-called energy reform is approved, it would not only increase oil and natural gas production, but also lead to the production of fuels that would emit 30 contaminant particles per million instead of 500 particles per million, which would be a categorical, definitive blow against pollution.

In Salamanca, President Calderon Hinojosa witnessed the signing of agreements to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions and improve the air quality, in Salamanca from 2007 to 2012 and in Leon from 2008 to 2012. The agreements were signed by Pemex, the Federal Electricity Commission, and the federal, state, and municipal governments.

Originally published by El Financiero website, Mexico City, in Spanish 18 Jul 08.

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