A Partial Victory for Mexico

The Houston Chronicle reports that Felipe Calderon's legislative attempt to allow foreign investment into Pemex operations has passed. I have tried to push a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to liberalize their Oil industry in exchange for more open worker programs and citizenship agreements.

The pertinent excerpts.

"The measures also will create a plan for performance bonuses for drilling and production contractors and will permit Pemex to sell bonds to the public, according to George Baker, a Houston analyst who specializes on Mexico's energy industry."

"While infuriating many on the left, the package fell short of what free-market proponents and private companies had hoped."

"Mexico's oil industry, which funds nearly 40 percent of the government's budget, has seen its production plummet in recent years as the huge Cantarell field, in the southern Gulf of Mexico, has begun to play out."

"Baker said the reforms may be a step in the right direction, but he added that that they do little to improve the chances of attracting foreign companies to drill in Mexico's deep-water Gulf. And, he said, time is running out."

"They have declining production, declining prices," Baker said. "There's even a greater urgency now than there was before."