Mexico energy regulator signals new stance towards private firms

Mexican energy regulator CRE has begun holding meetings with legal representatives of private firms with respect to hydrocarbons-related permit requests.

CRE invited the representatives to personal meetings to discuss permit requests and outline new or changing requirements for existing permits they want renewed, reported local energy news outlet Oil and Gas Magazine.

The meetings mark a change in the way that CRE pays attention to permit holders and those seeking modifications or new permits.

As such, the regulator is signaling it seeks rapprochement with the private sector after relative paralysis in permit processing due to COVID-19 and domestic energy policy. The efforts of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has looked to reassert the dominance of national oil company Pemex and its subsidiaries at all points along the value chain, and slow the growth of private sector projects.

It led to a backlog of more than 900 hydrocarbons-related requests, according to the report. CRE has acknowledged the problem and has said on multiple occasions it is working to end the delays and eliminate the backlog entirely, possibly by year-end.

The move to hold personal meetings also comes as CRE has a raft of regulatory measures in the pipeline, some of which may catch permit holders off guard.