Posted on 07/02/2006 1:02:47 AM PDT by txdoda
(06-30) 04:00 PDT Cardenas, Mexico -- Gonzalo Rodriguez has an unenviable task as the boss of a major oil field -- ripping out a large part of the pumping and compressing machinery that collects the output from scores of wells.
"Unfortunately, we don't need this capacity anymore," he said. "This isn't like the old days, and they aren't coming back."
Like much of Mexico's giant oil production apparatus, this area, known as the Bellota oil field, is in an apparently unstoppable decline. At current extraction rates, the nation has only 10 years of proven oil reserves remaining. And as Mexico prepares to vote in Sunday's presidential election, the leading candidates disagree bitterly about what, if anything, can be done to halt the impending collapse of the industry that forms the backbone of the national economy.
Left-of-center candidate Andres Lopez Obrador wants to de-emphasize production of crude oil and focus instead on refined products such as gasoline and plastics, while his main challenger, conservative Felipe Calderon, proposes opening the industry to foreign oil corporations to help increase crude exports.
Because Mexico is the second-largest source of U.S. oil imports, the outcome of this struggle will have a huge effect on U.S. energy security in the coming decades. Oil income accounts for more than 40 percent of the Mexican federal government's annual revenues, so the decline of oil output could leave the country's next president with a nightmarish budget crisis.
Oil industry experts say that whoever wins Sunday's election will be forced to play an increasingly weak hand of economic cards........
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
(my comment)..BUILD THE WALL & BUILD IT FAST
No prob. Mex. can drill off the coast of Fla./USA. Anyone but USA can, that is.
Well, I'll be dipped. Mexican moonbats! Sheesh! I'd be drilling gasoline wells if that could be done. Where does this nitwit think the gasoline, etc. come from?
conservative Felipe Calderon, proposes opening the industry to foreign oil corporations to help increase crude exports...
Well, at least someone down there 'gets it'.
However....they don't have the money nor technology to do it.
Pemex doesn't turn a profit.
There is a solution. Drill and develop other areas, and pipeline the crude to the refinery complexes.
101, really, but it requires major investment, and you can't do that if the government is siphoning off the money to buy votes.
No prob. Mex. can drill off the coast of Fla./USA. Anyone but USA can, that is.>>>>>>>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1658689/posts
Maybe our "Stuck on Stupid Senate" will approve this now.....(in less than 6/7 hundred pages)
Not drilling the oil Americans would like to drill.
LOL.....best 'quote' from the article...""Mexico must find its own solutions."
Too bad this guy wasn't running for president, down there.
Well, at least someone down there 'gets it'.
Fox has tried to 'open up" Pemex to foreign investors & the mex. congress wouldn't let him.
Should be interesting to see the outcome of the mex. congress. elections too.
Easier said than done. It's harder than getting Congress to open up offshore exploration along the US coast. The Mexican constitution prohibits any foreign company from drilling or operating oil and gas wells in Mexico. They also prohibit any domestic competitor to the state monopoly Pemex. Unlike the US, the state owns all mineral rights. If you are unfortunate in having oil and gas under your land, that's tough. Pemex will damage your property to extract it without paying any royalties or damages.
""Calderon wants to privatize Pemex, but that's just a recipe for more corruption," said Ricardo Decle, a petroleum engineer who was frog-marched off his workplace by soldiers in 2004 as part of a purge of about 50 dissenting technical staff and is now chief of a group of local Pemex retirees. "In Pemex, there is no transparency, nobody watches over the contracts. For starters, they ask for a 10 percent (bribe) off the top of the price. When anyone complains, they are repressed. This is the way business is done here."
The only chance I see to help America and Mexico is to seal the border, deport the people who are not here legaly. We also need to arm the Mexican people so they can have a chance against the looters with their armies.
I remeber reading you very good thread when you posted it.
I too, have always thought it should be up to the mexican people to clean up their own gov't.
The oil company setup is bad enough, corruption is a definite problem, and the looting of the oil company to subsidize social programs has its limits.
At some point you simply do not have the money to keep up with declining production. They are slowly killing the golden goose down there.
I hope more people are aware of this next time our Congress brings up "windfall profits" taxes, and keep that camel's nose out from under the tent.
That's for sure.
The Mexican constitution prohibits any foreign company from drilling or operating oil and gas wells in Mexico.
Yep, & I don't really expect to see the mex. congress changing *that much* in these elections......Plus any mex. president will still have to be *controlled*.
Doesn't look good.
yep, & I hate to say it, but I don't think we've *really* seen a 'run for the border', yet.
Major investment needed is right. And guess whose hand is heading for your wallet. Fox suggested the US 'invest in rebuilding Mexico's infrastructure' as a way of luring Mexicans to return home. (That's the carrot). Oil fields are included, along with roads, schools, hospitals, etc.. Like it or not, North American Union here we come.
The Mexican people won't clean it up.
The average Mexican is as corrupt as their government.
Bribes are a way of life there and they're proud of it...
If they sell us a large percentage of the oil rights in some areas, they'll get investment from us in energy infrastructure. When production declines so much that their budget situation becomes desperate, then Mexico will probably allow foreign investment in some oil fields. Those fields will quickly become the most efficient producers in Mexico. But no Americans want to invest in public works projects in Mexico because there's no payback for us. I doubt that Congress will ever vote for any significant foreign investment for Mexico.
Ah yes, la mordida (the bite) in Mexico. It's also a way of life in India, from what I hear. I worked with a guy from India who said his father had to "bribe seven people" to get a telephone line installed. Now THAT's a culture of bribery. People from India are generally very impressed with the US when they visit here.
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