Mexican senate approves energy reform bill
24/10/2008 17:08
The Mexican Senate yesterday approved an energy reform bill, which allows
more private and foreign investment to enter the state-owned oil
industry.
President Felipe Calderon said the bill will help the state-run oil
monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, tackle deep-water drilling and put more
profits in exploration.
The left-wing opposition has been vehemently against
the bill, saying it is an attempt to privatize the oil industry.
Mexico's oil
industry was nationalized in 1938 in an action regarded as a symbol of
sovereignty.
In that year, then Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas
nationalized the whole oil industry including hundreds of Mexican oil fields
owned by US and British companies.
The energy bill is the most important step
in changing Mexico's oil industry since the nationalization in 1938, because it
will give state-owned Pemex new and better tools to face the challenges of the
future, Ruben Camarillo, a senator from the ruling party, said.
Xinhua
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