Move to Strengthen Mexico State Power Firm Said Step to Dismantling Energy Reform
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reported to be recovering from the effects of the coronavirus in the National Palace, on Monday submitted a bill to congress that could change the rules of the game in the Mexican electricity market.
Analysts and sector participants have said the proposed changes to grant state power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) priority in power dispatch would go a long way to scrapping the 2013-2014 energy reform that aimed to ensure a fair and competitive market in electricity.
Mexico Natural Gas Market Hangs On in Tortuous 2020
Mexico’s natural gas market continued to grow in 2020 despite the chaos wrought by Covid-19 and unease around the government’s state-centric energy policies, underscoring the molecule’s increasing importance to the local economy.
Looking back,
NGI’s Mexico GPI forecasts last year may have been wildly optimistic. The year started innocently enough, but it took a sharp detour in the spring.
In January, Mexico’s national pipeline operator Centro Nacional de Control del Gas Natural (Cenagas) received 11 bids for natural gas supply to ensure the Sistrangas pipeline system maintained system balance, a first of its kind auction under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration, as well as a boost for competition.
Total Snags Equity Stake in Mexico Natural Gas Export Project
France’s Total SE has joined Sempra Energy subsidiaries Sempra LNG and Infraestructura Energética Nova (IEnova) in developing Mexico’s first natural gas export project.
Total management said Tuesday the company now holds a 16.6% equity share of the Energía Costa Azul (ECA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project set for Ensenada in Baja California on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Last April, Total also closed a twenty-year offtake agreement for 1.7 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of LNG from ECA.
The project is additionally backed by a 20-year sale and purchase agreement with Mitsui & Co. for approximately 0.8 million Mtpa.