Fuel Prices/No sale of the Presidential plane

Presidential plane. President López Obrador reported that a buyer for the presidential plane, a TP-01 Boeing 787-8, has not been found yet, and that the plane will remain in the Felipe Angeles airport operating for the enterprise Olmeca Maya Mexica, a company that belongs to Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA).

The presidential plane will be rented for private use and will remain at the AIFA airport for visitors to see. The president said government staff will not be able to use the airplane. Nevertheless, he did not discard the possibility of selling it once a buyer is found.

In the past, López Obrador said the money obtained from the sale of the plane would go to the purchase of medical devices to improve public hospitals.

Fuel prices. AMLO reported Mexico City is where the majority of oil price gouging occurs in gas stations and said he is in talks with Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico City’s Major, to take care of the situation. President López Obrador mentioned that the federal government is doing a great effort for fuel prices not to increase and called gas stations not to take advantage of consumers.

The Federal Consumer Attorney Office (PROFECO) assured that thanks to the policy implemented by the federal government concerning maximum prices to LP gas, the price of this fuel is lower than global gas prices. Ricardo Sheffield Padilla, Head of the Federal Consumer Attorney Office, detailed that the average price for stationary tanks is MX$13.73 (US$0.68) per liter while for gas cylinder the average price in the country is MX$25.44 (US$1.26) per liter. 

The enterprises with the cheapest gas LP prices are Servi Rio Grande in Coahuila with a  MX$12.82 (US$0.64) per liter gas price, Servigas del Norte in Chihuahua with MX$12.91 (US$0.64) and Flama Azul in Oaxaca with MX$13.24 (US$0.66).

Electrical Reform. Last week, President López Obrador called for the approval of the electrical reform without modifications and, today, he asked legislators to approve the reform as soon as possible. AMLO recommended legislators to pass the reform during the current ordinary session which ends in April and urged them not to convene an extraordinary session. López Obrador insisted that the initiative is for the development of Mexico.

The presidential reform initiative targets the disappearance of autonomous regulators like the Regulatory Commission of Energy (CRE) and the National Commission of Hydrocarbons (CNH), the elimination of self-supply contracts and clean energy certificates (CELs), as well as the cancellation of all existing generation permits and power purchase and sale contracts with private parties. The goal is to strengthen state-owned companies PEMEX and CFE. Although the reform has not been approved yet, it has been highly controversial. Many experts warn that if approved, dirty energy will prevail and be more expensive.

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