1. The Mexican Energy Reform: Explaining Policy Change and its Consequences.

• In Event: Mexico’s Energy Policy Reform: Its Potential Impact at the Local and Trans-Regional Levels

Abstract

The U.S. energy revolution, which made possible the emergence on non-conventional fuels, not only impacted world energy markets but also the energy environment of many countries, Mexico included. This explains why the Mexican government made a major energy reform at the end of 2013, which put an end to a state-run monopoly regime of more than seven decades under the aegis of PEMEX. The new market-oriented energy environment that is about to emerge aims at making PEMEX a competitive firm and attracting new investments from private firms able to maximize the economic and social value of Mexico’s energy resources, whether conventional or non-conventional. Mexico’s energy reform has the potential of becoming the new engine for regaining growth in the country in the years to come and to impact the U.S. energy market, mainly at the cross-border level.
This paper shall explain the economic, political, and geopolitical context in which Mexico’s energy reform took place and the major challenges the government must overcome at the policy level to ensure its success.

Author

• Susana Chacón, Universidad Anáhuac