Mexico made known that restricted the import and export of fuels to private companies. The Ministry of Energy said that said action is to reduce the validity of the permits from 20 to five years, a measure criticized by the industry and the antitrust authority, who assured that it would hinder competition in favor of the State.
Is Mexico an importer or exporter of fuels?
Mexico imports the bulk of fuels that it consumes and, just after an energy reform in 2013, the State began to give import licenses to private companies. The government of the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador seeks that the country be self-sufficient hydrocarbons and, for this, it is giving more prominence to the state Pemex and building a refinery.
According to an agreement published on Saturday in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), the maximum validity of the permits to import and export petroleum products and fuels it will be five years, from the previous maximum of 20 years.
Permits, one and five years, may be extended once for the same period after its volume is exhausted or its validity has concluded.
“The activities of the SENER (Secretariat of Energy) in the matter of granting and supervision of the previous permits for import and export of petroleum products and hydrocarbons will be oriented based on the objectives of the public policy in energy matters, including those of energy security of the country”
Says the rule.
Days ago, the antitrust authority Cofece had recommended not to issue the new regulations ensuring that “it would seriously hamper competition and free competition in the commercialization of fuels, and would affect the possibility of consumers to access more supply options and the best possible prices.”
The president of Mexico, López Obrador, admitted in late September that will seek to reverse the profound energy reform in 2021 carried out in the previous administration if it fails to strengthen and “rescue” Pemex and the state power company CFE with the current legal framework.