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Mexico energy bill passes through Congress despite protests
Reuters/Jorge Dan Lopez
Mexico's legislators stand around the congress podium in Mexico City October 28, 2008.MEXICO CITY
Petroleumworld.com, October 29, 2008In a bid to boost falling oil production Mexico's Congress on Tuesday passed a disputed energy reform bill that hands more financial autonomy to state-owned oil company Pemex.
Leftist opposition members earlier stormed the main podium of Congress but failed to prevent the final vote that, after some five hours, pushed through the disputed seven-point bill.
Despite the uproar, an initial bill was modified to include only moderate change.
Reform of the state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, considered a symbol of sovereignty since its nationalization in 1938, has sparked months of angry debates and protests.
President Felipe Calderon proposed the bill, which the left-wing opposition sees as an attempt to privatize the industry.
The bill, which passed through the Senate last Thursday, gives Pemex more financial autonomy in its investments.
But, lacking a majority in Congress, Calderon finally dropped plans to bring private capital into oil refining and accepted more restrictions on the contracts state-run Pemex can offer to private firms.
"The homeland is not for sale, the homeland must be defended," leftist lawmakers chanted Tuesday, underlining the nationalistic tone of the debate.
Former leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the loudest critic of the plan, on Tuesday called for more debate to allow the inclusion of an explicit ban on handing over exploration and exploitation to private and foreign companies in the bill.
Mexico is the world's sixth-largest oil producer, and the federal budget relies on crude exports for more than a third of its revenues.
Oil production has slowed in recent months, hit by a sharp decline in output from the main Cantarell field.
Story from AFP
AFP 28 2207 GMT 10 08
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