| | |  Business News | July 2008 
Mexicans Hold Nonbinding Oil-Reform Vote
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
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Mexico City — Mexicans expressed mixed feelings about a nonbinding referendum on giving private companies a bigger role the country's flagging state-run oil industry.
Relatively few voters turned out Sunday in Mexico City for the vote, held in the capital and in parts of 9 of the country's 31 states — area governed almost exclusively by the opposition Democratic Revolution Party.
Ballots asked whether Mexico should allow private companies to participate in oil exploration, refining and distribution.
The Democratic Revolution Party objects to President Felipe Calderon's proposal to loosen restrictions on private involvement in the oil industry, and urged voters to mark the 'no' option.
Calderon says Mexico needs to allow private firms help explore deep-water oil reserves because output is declining at Mexico's current oil fields, many of which have been producing crude for decades. His proposal is already before the Senate, which appears unlikely to be influenced by Sunday's vote at over 10,000 polling places.
University student Fernando Bravo Torres said he didn't think the proposed reforms would benefit the country — or his relatives who work in the oil industry. But he also didn't think the referendum would do any good.
"I'm not voting, out of indifference," said the 23-year-old Mexico City resident, sitting a few steps from a polling place.
At one Mexico City polling place, only about a dozen people filled out ballots by midday.
Jose Fredy Casarrubias, 50, who was planning to vote "no," said he thought the vote was a step forward for Mexican democracy.
"It is our right to make our opinions heard," said Casarrubias. "It isn't the government's right to decide what to do with something that belongs to all Mexicans."
Mexico's Constitution says all oil belongs to the state, and forbids giving concessions to private or foreign companies. Mexico nationalized the oil industry in 1938, and it remains a point of national pride.
But the state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, has been subcontracting some work to private firms for years, and Calderon's proposal would only expand that role in areas like exploration and refining.
At present, Mexico imports gasoline from a refinery it partly owns in Texas, because Pemex has been unable to build enough refinery capacity in Mexico.
Truck driver Federico Noguez, 51, planned to endorse the reforms with a "yes" vote, "because I think we should have refineries in our own country." |
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