Mexico unveils energy reform to draw in private sector
Source: Reuters
Mexico unveils energy reform to draw in private sector
By David Alire Garcia and Simon Gardner
MEXICO CITY | Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:00pm EDT
(Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Monday proposed a sweeping energy reform that would amend the constitution to offer private companies lucrative profit-sharing contracts, seeking to lure investment to stem sliding oil output.
The proposal calls for changes to key articles of the constitution that ban certain contracts and make oil and gas exploitation the sole preserve of the state.
If enacted, the reform would mark the largest private sector opening in decades for Mexico's oil and gas sector, which was nationalized in 1938 and is controlled by state monopoly Pemex. The government will send its proposals to Congress this week.
The centrist government's bill stops short, however, of proposing concessions to tap Mexican oil, or production-sharing, which were viewed as the best-case scenarios by oil companies.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/12/us-mexico-reforms-idUSBRE97B0LS20130812