The United States repeated in Mexico on Friday that its plan to reform the energy market caused them “real concerns” because it threatens tens of billions of dollars of private American investment.
• Read also: US lawmakers call for tariffs on China to be lifted
“The reform bill could also jeopardize joint Mexican-U.S. clean energy and climate efforts,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm added in a statement after a two-day trip. days in Mexico Thursday and Friday.
The U.S. Representative “expressly conveyed the Biden-Harris administration’s ‘real concerns’ during her meetings with Mexican officials, including President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“I received assurances that Mexico is committed to supporting clean energy and resolving current disputes around energy projects within the law,” she said.
The US Ambassador to Mexico and the US Trade Representative had previously expressed their country’s concerns publicly in previous months.
The constitutional energy reform aims to “modernize and strengthen, without privatizing them” the two 100% national public companies Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), according to the Mexican government. For example, it intends to reserve 54% of the electricity market for the CFE.
This reform project could threaten “at least 44 billion dollars of private investment in the energy sector”, had written three Democratic senators in a letter to the Secretary of Energy before his trip to Mexico, as well as to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Mexican executive also wants to “effectively fight corruption” in the energy sector.
The former president of Pemex Emilio Lozoya is in preventive detention for his alleged responsibility in the scandal Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant which distributed bribes in exchange for contracts in several Latin American countries. The prosecution requested 39 years in prison against him.
Pemex also concluded the purchase of the Deer Park refinery in Texas on Thursday during the visit of the Secretary of Energy, buying 50% of the shares from Shell for 596 million dollars.