MEXICO: Sensible Strategy Needed for PEMEX

Defining a sensible strategy regarding state-run Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) is a big challenge for the administration of Felipe Calderon.

Gradual, stepped-up PEMEX deterioration, despite record sales worth $100 billion in 2006, reveals lack of vision and lack of a sound energy policy among federal governments, according to local media.

The tactic to turn it into a main supplier of resources for the nation has leave PEMEX exhausted, they say.

Experts quoted by local dailies agree that PEMEX, which ranks 9th among world oil firms, has run out of resources to invest in itself, with its hands tied together by a greedy bureaucracy which plunged it into an alarming debt of over $39.80 billion.

They warn of a plunging production, mainly due to oilfield exhaustion, with no sign of the needed will to solve the firm's pressing problems.

Prensa Latina