AMLO Vows to Build Refineries The News
go to original April 10, 2012

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

MEXICO CITY – The presidential candidate for the Progressive Movement, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), said that if he wins the elections, far from privatizing the petroleum and energy industries, he would strengthen them by building five large refineries.

In a press conference on Monday, he said that he would boost the energy sector in order to increase national development, considering that privatization policies reduce Mexico’s growth possibilities.

He said he would make investment and exploration a priority in order to keep a hold of reserves and stop the sale of crude oil so that the country can process the ‘materia prima’. Currently, Mexico spends 26 billion dollars a year on fuel. It costs three pesos per liter to bring gasoline to Mexico, but if produced in the country, 80 billion pesos a year would be saved, he said, “just in its transportation,” resources that could be used to build refineries.

López Obrador said that it is also necessary to stop the deterioration of the petrochemical industry by making hydroelectric plants function to their full capacities. His government, he said, would give priority to purchasing and contracting out energy services from national-owned companies. Currently, only 20 percent of these services are purchased from nationally-owned companies and the rest are foreign-owned.

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