WTF?? I mean, really, WTF?? Pemex(part of the Mexican government) has all the money in Mexico, and they need a billion US taxpayer dollars? Let’s give Hugo Chavez a billion, too.
The US has been loaning billions to PEMEX since 1998.
A requirement of the loans is that the money is used to buy from American oil field services companies.
It keeps lots of Americans in work.
As a result Pemex can't do much without loans.
Notice that the loans aren't coming from the exceptionally wealthy Mexican ruling class. They have their money invested in safe projects in safe countries.
Their main field is collapsing, and the smaller fields aren't going to be able to make up the difference, at least not any time soon.
We import, or used to, something like a million barrels a day. That won't continue indefinitely, as their fields die and their country demands more oil.
Obama did.
Chavez Formalizes Seizure of US-Owned Oil Rigs
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=11069016