Adam Williams

“The energy reform sought to create a sector that operated as a market with technical criteria and with long-term investor certainty, and that is being dismantled,” Guillermo Zúñiga, former Commissioner at the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) from 2013-2019, told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. 

“We are effectively seeing this administration block the participation of private industry in the energy sector across all segments,” Montserrat Ramiro, former Commissioner at Mexico’s Comisión Reguladora de Energia (CRE), told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. “Apparently they think the optimal outcome is total control of the market by state-owned companies. Moreover, they think markets are not necessary or beneficial to consumers.”

“With more of a push to decarbonize the U.S., combined with more demand from Mexico for natural gas in the short and mid-term, we are going to continue to see increased dependence on U.S. natural gas in Mexico,” Leonardo Beltrán, a seasoned expert in Mexico energy policy, told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. 

“The Zama case is very important in our eyes and in the eyes of all oil investors, international and domestic, because of the precedents that will be set when the state oil company wants a share of production,” George Baker, Managing Principal of the Houston-based consultancy Baker & Associates and long-time publisher of the Mexico Energy Intelligence newsletter, told NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index.

“Based on my day-to-day experience dealing with clients and different actors in the energy sector, I think the main concern in the industry is that the rules established for private investment are respected,” said Graciela Álvarez Hoth, CEO of risk management and energy consultancy firm NRGI Broker, who has more than 30 years of experience in the Mexican energy sector. 

“I think that we still have a window of time to explore and develop our natural riches, but we need to do so now,” said Sergio Pimentel, Commissioner at Mexico’s Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH). “If not, we are leaving these resources in the ground and could be depriving future generations of Mexican citizens of economic and social opportunities.”

“One thing that I am proud of is that despite the Covid situation, both upstream investment and production has increased or been sustained in Mexico,” said Merlin Cochran, General Director of the Association of Mexican Hydrocarbons Companies (Amexhi), a non-profit civil association that brings together the main oil and gas investors and operators in Mexico. 

Mexico remains a great bet for long-term energy investment due to its highly strategic geopolitical position, according to Adriana Citlali Sánchez, a seasoned expert in fiscal planning and taxation in the Mexican energy industry, with more than 17 years of experience with major national and international companies.

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following question-and-answer (Q&A) column as part of a regular interview series with experts in the Mexican natural gas market.