The Road To Mexico -- Elections July 1, 2018

ArgusMedia says it has a 3-part series on the Mexico election from an energy stand point. This is the first installment of that 3-part series:

Like his fellow populist leader in the US, Mexico's leading presidential candidate wants to make Mexico great again, starting with making more refined products within the country's borders.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he would make good on that promise by building up to two new refineries in Mexico, which would also come at a great estimated cost of $8bn. [Doesn't have the money.]

Lopez Obrador, an early opponent of the energy reforms, has been leading the polls for over a year, cementing a solid double-digit lead for months.

Lopez Obrador has said he will stop Mexican crude exports to boost the domestic production of gasoline and diesel. He has also argued in favor or (sic) freezing fuel prices and reviewing all awarded upstream contracts. [Here we go again. The road to Venezuela.]

After years of severe budget cuts imposed on state-run oil company Pemex, Lopez Obrador has said he would focus heavily on Pemex.

Rocio Nahle, the candidate's pick for energy secretary under a Lopez Obrador presidency, told Argus in a March interview that Mexicans could expect "a radical change in the organization of Pemex."

Lopez Obrador's Mexico-first energy program, formalized in a 415-page document published late last year, has stirred national pride among his supporters, upset by US president Donald Trump's repeated tirades against the US' southern neighbor.  [Emotional response will lead to a very bad outcome.]

Mexico's fuel and natural gas imports from the US have been rising for years. In 2017, state-run Pemex gasoline imports rose 13pc to 570,000 b/d from the previous year, while diesel imports increased by more than 26pc to 237,500 b/d.

Pemex's natural gas imports dipped 8.6pc in 2017 to 1.766 Bcf/d, but were still 62pc more than the 1.089 Bcf/d imported at the beginning of the current administration in 2012.

I only see really bad things for our southern neighbor.

On top of this, Mexico plans to impose a 20% tariff on pork legs. I can't make this stuff  up.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico