IMCO Launches Energy Monitor to Share Energy Data

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) released a new feature on its website: Energy Monitor, a tool that features up-to-date information and analysis on current events regarding the electricity market and energy policy. The team behind the tool said that it can facilitate the private sector’s decision-making, as well as that of the Ministry of Finance and regular citizens.

The monitor covers six main topics, including energy production costs by type of producer and technology, prices in the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) for every state, data on the energy sector’s emissions, a platform for oil production and imports, gas prices in every state and budgets of energy sector institutions. 

Upon its release, IMCO pointed out the growing influence of energy markets as an indispensable force to foster competitiveness among other countries. Valeria Moy, Director, IMCO, said that the main inspiration to create the tool was to ensure that more information was available toward public knowledge, as “every time that we try to explain what is happening in the energy sector, it gets complicated. It is a language that not everyone speaks and finding data on the matter is even harder.”

“The information provided was retrieved from several different official sources. The frequency [of this information] varied and was hard to interpret overall. But [in the monitor] it is neatly arranged to facilitate understanding,” added Moy.

The Monitor offers accessible and up-to-date information and enables navigation through different periods. The tool has already been fundamental for the publication of a research article by IMCO that exposes the current situation of the renewable energy sector and the state in which oil production and oil exports are shaping up to achieve energy sovereignty, the president’s foremost objective for the Mexican energy industry. Based on this information, the country will not be ready to stop exporting crude oil by 2023. Conversely, Mexico is likely to rely on imports to meet the consumer demand for fuel products.

“The emergence of North America as a world energy power can provide the conditions necessary for Mexico to promote its own productivity and achieve better economic integration at a regional level that sees the energy sector as a key factor,” said IMCO.

Oscar Ocampo, Energy Coordinator, IMCO, expressed that he hopes that new information will be promptly added, including a consultation manual in which different concepts are explained. The website could also include more information regarding natural gas, LP gas, international oil prices and the influence that energy resources have on other economic sectors.