Posted on 01/02/2008 4:39:56 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Output is declining rapidly, but national pride and politics may block possible fixes.
MEXICO CITY -- With crude oil topping $95 a barrel, these should be heady days for Petroleos Mexicanos. Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly, known as Pemex, generated record revenue of about $100 billion in 2007.
But at a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the nationalization of Mexico's oil industry last year, Pemex General Director Jesus Reyes Heroles wasn't in a celebratory mood.
"The situation of Petroleos Mexicanos is critical and merits immediate attention," the company's top executive said.
Indeed, 2007 tapped a gusher of concerns for the world's sixth-largest oil producer.
Pemex managed to lose $1.2 billion in the third quarter. Output is declining, as are exports and proven reserves. Mexican Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel said last month that Mexico's crude production, which averaged about 3.1 million barrels a day in 2007, could fall as much as one-third in less than a decade if the nation didn't move fast to reverse the slide.
The consequences could be painful, not only for Mexico, which relies on oil revenue to fund about 40% of its federal spending, but also for world markets, which are feeling the pinch of tight supplies. Mexico is the No. 2 provider of petroleum to the United States, behind Canada.
The bad news isn't confined to the financial pages. An emblem of national pride and the nation's most important company, Pemex lurched from one humiliating episode to another in 2007. Among them:
* Leftist guerrillas pulled off a series of pipeline bombings that sent the government scrambling to deploy troops to protect company installations.
* An accident at an offshore oil platform killed 22 workers in October and crippled a major well. Public outcry forced Pemex to take the unprecedented step of appointing an independent...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Mexico stood up to the United States and won," Enrique Bravo, Latin America analyst for consulting firm Eurasia Group in Washington, wrote in a recent report. "Pemex is thus much more than an oil company; it is a powerful symbol of Mexican national sovereignty."
give us 30% and we’ll fix it...
Mexico nationalized their oil industry and then sided with the Axis. Good move.
Oh yeah? If PEMEX is so great, how come more than 30% of the Mexican labor force is illegally in the U.S. sending gringo dollars back to support the great economic engine that provides for all the peasants, huh Mexico? The silence is deafening.....
Socialists think its some kind of black magic when state oil companies and oil producing governments, who own their own oil, are bankrupt, and private oil companies who mostly (outside the US) do not are making money hand over fist. In their eyes it looks like some kind of huge criminal sleight of hand.
Yes, but will it buy me a week in Ixtapa ?
Looks like that national oil thing in Mexico is working every bit as well as that national health care thing in Canada is working. From those with the means to those with the need. Yea!
Socialist see someone with pie and want to take it to give to whomever they deem deserving until there is no more pie.
Capitalist make more pie.
These idiotas can’t even pump oil properly to maximize output from a given field. They are probably getting 50% from a field that can yield 90% of what is down there
Proof, again, that nothing fails so miserably as government - anywhere.
If this kicks in, it will mean higher prices for us. - tom
Mexico spent its oil-company revenue on “social welfare,” the politically correct way of saying “political corruption.” Just like our Congress spends our money. Just wait until they control our oil companies in 2009.
You have to love nationalized oil companies. When Nigeria nationalized theirs, they passed a law saying all the rigs had to be run by Nigerian crews.
All the brits and yanks left. One after another they started losing rigs and crews. They then amended the law to say that 80% of the crew had to be Nigerian. That meant that the 20% that knew had to run the rig could be foreign, i.e. qualified, to run the rigs.
So the Mexicans are having problems with increasing proven reserves. Why am I not surprised?
I just got back from Mexico. Pemex seriously sucks.
There are no other stations in the rathole I visited (Cozumel). Pemex is a turd world monopoly and totally non-consumer oriented. No one else can sell gas: no Shell, No Exxon, etc. A 25 minute wait behind a line of gasping-for-air pollution wrecks. Rip off exchange rates. Every telephone pole at Pemex and elsewhere in the feces-smelling town is plastered with giant pictures of the PRI socialist crooks who run this hell-hole.
If you think Cozumel is a rathole, try going on the mainland about 1 hour in. Cozumel is a tourist trap and, as such, is actually quite high end and elegant by Mexican standards.
Americans are being forced by their own government to accept the invasion that has taken place the last eight years by illgal immigrants from all over South America and I have asked myself countless times why George Bush is not controlling the border. Everything I have seen out of the White House about stopping the invasion has been nothing but smoke and mirrors. I am being very nice, I am convinced someone is on the take from these criminals in South America, Oil and Drugs. The Americans are getting sold down the river more and more each day, Jobs are being denied Americans because cheap labor is abundant from the banana republic of Mexico. What is very sad about the whole thing is; the real Americans don’t have a soul in politics to stop the invasion, it is just getting worse each day.
Next time, go to the Baja - trust me.
(but only in B.C.S - the mainland sucks so bad they should change it’s name to “Kirby”)
It is producing a lot less money for all that social spending than it would if it were still run by the hated Norteamericanos and taxed. It would be discovering and exploiting more oilfields that are out in the Gulf as well as off the west coast.
I go to Cozumel 2 or 3 times a year to scuba dive. It’s a trap alright, but only if you fall into it. Heck, I know places you can eat a big meal for about 3 USD. But that’s just me. I really only go there for the diving.
Devoting PEMEX’s funds to “social development” really means lining the pockets of the corrupt elite.
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