| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2008 
Mexico's Lopez Obrador Demands Changes to Pemex Energy Proposal
 Jens Erik Gould - Bloomberg
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| | Mexico's former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, center, greets supporters as he attends a protest against the energy reform bill in front of Mexico's Senate, Mexico City, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008. The Mexican Senate has passed a controversial energy reform bill meant to revitalize the nation's oil industry, but it has held back voting on three measures before sending it to the lower house. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) | | |
Former Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raised new objections to President Felipe Calderon's initiative to loosen the state oil monopoly, urging lawmakers to modify the measures before voting on them.
Lopez Obrador, speaking in the lower house of congress, asked legislators to add a clause to the energy bills that would prohibit state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos from designating exploration and production areas for specific companies. The bills were approved last week by the Senate
"I ask you to send the bills back to committees to include an explicit ban on handing over blocks in exclusivity to private and foreign companies," Lopez Obrador told leaders of the lower house in a meeting broadcast on the congress television channel.
Lopez Obrador's supporters blocked the entrance to the Senate building last week, forcing senators to vote on the measures in an alternate site. The lower house plans to vote today on the bills, which would allow Pemex to give performance- based contracts for oil exploration and production to outside companies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9(at)bloomberg.net |
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