20 July 2012

MEXICO / BRASIL: All About...PEMEX; Execs Hope For Change With PRI President.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-mexico-oil-idINBRE86J14820120720


      Some visitors to this news blog wonder...why all the oil/energy news?
      Hey folks...this blog originates in oil rich and energy obsessed Texas.
      Plus...the editor once was writing a master's thesis about PEMEX's Cantarell field and 1979's massive Ixtoc oil disaster in the Gulf...a project that sadly was never completed.
      But...PEMEX news continues to fascinate.
      Here's a story about PEMEX execs hope for a change of attitude under PRI president-elect Pena Nieto.
      For decades...PEMEX has supported the Mexican state with its revenues.
      In 2011...PEMEX earned 785 billion Mx pesos...but paid 876 bn in taxes!
      Without PEMEX...Mexican income taxes would have to rise by 91%...just to make-up for loss revenue.
      But...PEMEX's fields...like the former giant Cantarell field and Ku-Maloob-Zaap...are aging...with rapidly declining production.
     PEMEX desperately needs more income invested in production exploration.
     Its officials hope the PRI's Pena Nieto will make that change...allow more autonomous control...and even foreign investment.
     Brasil's PETROBRAS is their favored model...though it has been maligned recently by the markets.