Mexico's Energy Ministry (Sener) on Monday announced that it will no longer allow 20-year import-export contracts that were granted to oil enterprises.
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Contracts will only be granted for up to five years and will be conferred in accordance with policy objectives such as energy security and sovereignty.
Sener's new guidelines establish that a five-year authorization may be extended again for the same period of time once fuel volumes have been exhausted or the contract's validity has ended.
Before granting authorizations, Sener will consider such factors as domestic production and demand, national exports, internationl prices, and storage levels.
The Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), however, said that the new regulations hinder free competition in the oil products market and could also affect prices to consumers.
According to the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), the country's 2020 proven oil reserves reach 6.3 billion barrels. However, it is estimated that these reserves will only be available for the next 10 years.
The Mexican oil industry, which includes the state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and private companies, produced an average of 1.63 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020.