COVID-19 Cases In PEMEX Increasing

PEMEX has reported 110 new COVID-19 cases. This is considered the second consecutive day that the NOC tallies over 100 new cases per day, according to Oil & Gas Magazine. This totals 7,232 confirmed cases among the NOC’s workforce. So far 20,157 suspected cases have been reported, of which 4,982 have been confirmed as negative, while 7,943 cases are yet to be confirmed. This means that the company’s overall contagion rate has risen to 35.9 percent, meaning that for every 100 suspected cases, 36 turn out to be positive. 1,225 deaths have been confirmed, six of those reported on Tuesday. Of those who have passed away, 534 were retired, 385 were part of a worker’s family, 300 were onsite workers and six were external suppliers.  

Considering these figures, COVID-19 in PEMEX has represented a mortality rate of 16.94 percent. The report goes on to claim that PEMEX has not communicated, for the last seven weeks, the age and gender distribution of the deceased. PEMEX has begun what it calls the “Phase 3” protocol, which among other things has entailed the disembarkation of 3,094 offshore workers.  

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Nuevo Leon Governor Asks for Refinery Assistance

Nuevo Leon Gov. Jaime Rodríguez asked President López Obrador to review the case of the PEMEX refinery in Cadereyta during today’s daily morning press conference. “We cannot close it but we will try to make sure it does not pollute,” said the governor. Rodríguez gave a document to the president detailing why the state administration is not asking for additional funds or making petty requests but “to sign a pact of full collaboration” with the federal government. “We always collaborate, we have an agreement,” he said.

AHMSA Could Face Legal Process

After AHMSA denied on Wednesday that it had committed to return US$200 million for the alleged overpricing of the Agronitrogenados plant sale to PEMEX, President López Obrador said  during today’s daily morning press conference that the steel company should be penalized. “Yesterday, they said no payment will be forthcoming to repair the damage. In that case, they have to be prosecuted, penalized,” the president said. López Obrador noted that in the US, alleged criminals can get reduced sentences if they give back money involved in fraud and that the same process could be applied in Mexico according to the law.

AG Should Have the Liberty to Investigate Those Accused by Lozoya: AMLO 

Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero has total freedom to investigate people named in the accusations by former PEMEX head Emilio Lozoya, President López Obrador said during yesterday’s daily morning press conference. “The prosecutor is a man with discretion who has the superiority to feel completely free. So, let's wait, let's not get ahead of the investigation,” he said. The president said the Attorney General's Office (FGR) is independent from the executive power. “For centuries, we had a centralized, authoritarian regime,” he said. However, the president did make it clear that the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) is not investigating former Minister Luis Videgaray at this time. 

AMLO Wants Corruption Probe to Focus on Etileno XXI

Last week, López Obrador said that after finishing reading former PEMEX head Emilio Lozoya's corruption accusations, instead of focusing on the shocking revelations such as the Ferrari given to former President Peña Nieto by the arrested former Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte, there are more relevant affairs like the Etileno XXI complex that should be looked at, where subsidized contracts were allegedly used to embezzle public finances totaling billions of pesos. “Not hundreds of millions but billions of pesos. You do the math,” he said.