Opposition senators call for resignation of Mexico's energy leadership

Opposition senators from the center-right national action party (PAN) have called for the resignation of Mexican energy minister Rocío Nahle, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero and Manuel Bartlett, the CEO of utility CFE, due to “brutal ineptitude” in their handling of the sector.

"This government has a disaster in the country's energy sector. Pemex, CFE and the energy ministry are bankrupting Mexico due to incompetence and corruption," wrote the party's senators in a statement. 

The action is not likely to force any major shakeup given the solid majorities in both houses of congress by the Morena party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). But it could be seen as a warning shot ahead of next year’s midterm elections. 

The PAN senators argued that with Pemex's losses in the first quarter being 562bn pesos (US$23.3bn), the troubled NOC is losing the equivalent of 240mn pesos every hour. At that rate, the losses could eat up roughly one-third of the annual federal budget, according to the senators.

“The brutal ineptitude of Octavio Romero and Rocío Nahle have made Pemex a bottomless pit,” they said in the statement.

The senators said that Romero “closed the door to private investment. He canceled farmouts and oil rounds. He has not stopped the huachicoleo [hydrocarbon theft].”

Regarding Nahle, they argued that "she has made Mexico [the subject of] international ridicule" with her ideology and “the sick obsession with the Dos Bocas [refinery], which are costing Mexicans dearly.” 

“She authorized the reduction of gasoline imports, causing shortages. She invades powers of Pemex and the energy regulatory commission (CRE),” the group wrote. “She insists on throwing 192bn pesos in the trash by building a useless refinery," they added.

The PAN lawmakers accused CFE’s Bartlett (pictured to the right of AMLO) not only of incompetence but also corruption, citing possession of 23 mansions and an undeclared fortune of 750mn pesos.

The group, furthermore, accused the CEO of profiteering with the coronavirus, alleging Bartlett’s son sold respirators to Mexican social security system IMSS at a price four times higher than the average market price. The contract was for 31mn pesos.