President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador is putting at oil the heart of Mexico\u2019s energy sector and banking on it as an engine for economic growth in a plan that carries serious environmental threats and jeopardises the country\u2019s climate commitments.<\/p>\n
Keen to provide cheap gasoline and electricity, L\u00f3pez Obrador (known as AMLO) plans<\/a> to build a controversial oil refinery, upgrade six of state energy company Petr\u00f3leos Mexicanos (PEMEX)\u2019s existing refineries and maintain 50 hydroelectric plants, relegating wind and solar photovoltaic energy to secondary importance despite Mexico\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n AMLO outlined the moves in his Plan to Strengthen the Energy Sector<\/a>, launched earlier this year.<\/p>\n “First you should ask; what is the optimum point of oil investments\u2026and the optimal electricity matrix?\u2019 They should analyse which combination is the best for the country,” said Adri\u00e1n Fern\u00e1ndez, director of the Mexico Climate Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fern\u00e1ndez said the government lacks ideas and hasn\u2019t justified why so much money goes into oil despite its environmental impact.<\/p>\n This year, PEMEX will allocate $2.5 billion pesos (US$132,000,000) to the construction of a refinery at the Dos Bocas port in the south-eastern state of Tabasco. The refinery would process crude oil and convert it into gasoline and kerosene as well as other derivatives and raw materials for the petrochemical and plastics industries.<\/p>\n 2022<\/p>\n The government says that by 2022, Mexico will stop importing gasoline, most of which it mostly buys from the US. PEMEX aims to increase daily extraction from 1.7 to 2.4 million barrels of crude oil. Opponents argue that Mexico does not have enough light oil to refine and that exporting crude would be more profitable.<\/p>\n AMLO has said that oil will finance<\/a> the transition to clean energy. Yet it seems more likely to delay it. A new refinery\u2019s average life cycle is around 20 years and requires new infrastructure, embodying more carbon.<\/p>\n There is no environmental policy during this presidency. They have no idea about the issue or who will advise them<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Among the five objectives listed for the refinery, none support renewable energy<\/a> growth. All the while, AMLO has insisted that Mexico must maintain a flow of oil, what he calls a \u201clever for development<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n In recent years, PEMEX\u2019s operations have slowed. In the first quarter of 2019, it extracted 1.66 million barrels of crude oil daily, 12% less than the same period the previous year. At the same time, it obtained 3.6 billion cubic feet of gas, compared to 3.9 billion in 2018, a near 7% drop.<\/p>\n According to Mar\u00eda Eugenia Ibarrar\u00e1n, director of the Xabier Gorostiaga SJ Environment Research Institute, AMLO\u2019s plan fails to consider the energy sector\u2019s environmental impact.<\/p>\n “A refinery is proposed but at no time a big push to renewables has been made. They keep putting gas in as clean energy, which is a big trap. There is no environmental policy during this presidency. They have no idea about the issue or who will advise them,\u201d Ibarrar\u00e1n told Di\u00e1<\/em>logo Chino<\/em>.<\/p>\n Much of Mexico\u2019s hydrocarbon drive has been financed by China. In 2014, Mexico\u2019s National Infrastructure Fund, national development bank Nacional Financiera, and the China Investment Corporation<\/a> and China Development Bank Capital established the US$1.2 billion China-Mexico Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n World Bank private financing arm the International Finance Corporation manages the fund.<\/p>\n In energy auctions, China National Offshore Oil Company <\/a>won an oil block in 2016. A China-Mexico consortium, which consists of Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group, Sicoval MX and Nuevas Soluciones Energ\u00e9ticas A & P, won three more in 2017.<\/p>\n Chinese firms have also invested in renewable energy projects but these investments pale in comparison to oil.<\/p>\n AMLO\u2019s plans also bolster the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)\u2019s capacity for electricity generation. The company is building and renovating plants to meet a demand that grows an average 3% annually.<\/p>\n On June 14, the energy ministry launched the National Electricity System Development Plan <\/a>(PRODESEN). In it, CFE will install 18,880MW by the CFE between 2019 and 2025, equivalent to 27% of the country\u2019s current installed capacity.<\/p>\n Over the next 15 years, Mexico expects to add over 29,000MW generated by combined cycle plants that burn natural gas and reuse the steam generated to produce electricity.<\/p>\n However, the government has suspended renewable energy auctions that were first opened in 2016. In 2018, solar energy, wind power, \u2018cogeneration\u2019 and combined cycle were the fastest growing sources. Yet, CFE will not build renewable plants, according to PRODESEN.<\/p>\n “What has to be done, but they are not willing to do, is to deploy large-scale renewables. The cost does not seem to matter to them,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said, emphasising that renewables are becoming increasingly competitive<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fern\u00e1ndez presented an energy transition plan<\/a> to all 2018 presidential candidates at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He called for the massive deployment of renewable energies and the elimination of subsidies<\/a> for fuel and electricity.<\/p>\n The AMLO administration has not adopted any of its proposals.<\/p>\n
\nthe year Mexico aims to stop importing gasoline
\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\nOil for clean energy?<\/h2>\n
Dirty energy<\/h2>\n