Mexico speeds up opening of fuel market: Update
The accelerated timetable is an example of Mexico's commitment to its sweeping energy reforms regardless of the current price of crude, he said at the IHS CeraWeek conference in Houston.
Mexico is opening the retail fuel market, which was previously dominated by state-run oil company Pemex.
The 2014 energy reform revoked Pemex?s long-held monopoly in upstream and downstream operations, allowing the establishment of competing stations, as of 1 January.
Mexican authorities say they have received hundreds of permit requests for the construction of new independent service stations.
The plan had called for newcomers to wait until January 2017 to freely import gasoline and diesel, which in the meantime, would still be provided by Pemex.
But today's announcement advances the timetable to 1 April, which will lead to lower prices for the Mexican people, Pe?a Nieto said.
Potential foreign investors in Mexico could be oil majors or US refiners that have retail operations such as Valero and its retail arm CFT, or Sunoco, which acquired the Susser chain of convenience stores in July.
Mexico's gasoline distributors association Onexpo said it is awaiting details on the accelerated opening of the market. "It is necessary to know precisely what would happen with supply contracts already signed with Pemex," a spokesman told Argus. Other pending details include the availability of storage and distribution infrastructure, and products transportation.
Pe?a Nieto also said that lower oil prices will not interfere with Mexico's much-awaited auction for deepwater areas.
Mexico will issue a fourth tender in December in a current historic bidding round, which kicked off in December 2014.
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