CANACINTRA Warns About Energy Simulation

The National Chamber of the Transformation Industry Enoch Castellanos (CANACINTRA) won’t endorse the National Energy Investment Plan yet to be announced by the federal government because it is "a simulation", the CANACINTRA President Enoch Castellanos has warned.

“We already said that as long bidding rounds for oil exploration, as long as there is no decisive action or explanation of what will replace the energy long-term auctions, we will not validate a simulation on energy,” Castellanos said in an interview with Reforma.

The Energy Sector Investment Plan was initially announced to be ready by the end of January, then the date changed to mid-February and, so far, there is not an official date for its publication. Castellanos insisted that private investment is needed, as the current federal policies have failed.

“We need the opening [of the energy sector] to private investors, PEMEX exceeding MX$383 billion in losses is outrageous,” Castellanos lamented, saying that CANACINTRA believes the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and PEMEX can be strengthened, but not with public money.

MX$40 billion investment in Puebla

The state of Puebla presented its new Energy Agency, which includes a MX$40 billion project investment portfolio to be allocated in different sector areas.

Puebla seeks to promote the use of renewable energy besides having a more sustainable and safe consumption that allows economic development alongside the private sector.

Of the MX$40 billion planned investment, near MX$30 billion will go for electricity generation projects, MX$8.4 billion for natural gas and over MX$1.2 billion for oil logistics. For natural gas, the plan includes the expansion in supply coverage to four of 21 industrial parks, as well as the conversion of public transport to gas.