Posted on 12/12/2013 11:29:42 AM PST by iowamark
On the morning of December 12th, Mexico woke up to the sound of fireworks as the country celebrated the festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe. A national holiday, the 12th marks the beginning of the Christmas festivities in Mexico, which will end on the 6th of January with the Dia de los Reyes (Three kings day or Epiphany). But for many in the energy industry, the fireworks and celebrations had a double meaning. The day before, the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies approved a legislative initiative that reforms the country’s energy sector. As expected, the law includes measures to open the oil and gas industry to private and foreign investment, through cash, profit-sharing and production contracts. What is new, however, and is the result of the hard political bargaining that has taken place between the governing PRI and the PAN in recent weeks, is the legal entity of the “license”. Although the legislation still explicitly prohibits the use of concessions in the hydrocarbons sector, the license will act in a very similar way, with the idea that it will be applied to unconventional projects (primarily shale). This item made its way into the legislation thanks to the PAN insisting that the government adopt a more liberal approach to oil reform to secure PAN support in the aftermath of the deeply divisive fiscal reform process...
Much still needs to be decided, in the way of secondary laws, implementation and institutional strengthening (in Pemex and the regulatory organisms), and the first half of next year will be dedicated to that. Nonetheless, it seems that 2014 will begin with the three kings bringing a gift for the energy industry in the form of a radically different oil and gas sector in Mexico, one that is ripe with opportunity.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Wow! The atheists haven't attacked Mexico yet.
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