Energy Reform Explorations
Introduction
The energy reform is considered as part of the so -called structural reforms, which means that it is not only the modification of a law, but that it consists of a huge legislative project. The project consisted of the modification of articles 25, 27 and 28 constitutional;as well as the establishment of 21 transient articles. This derives the creation of 9 new laws that contemplate 6 central issues or axes: hydrocarbons, electricity, institutional design, state productive companies, nation income and sustainability. One of the most important axes of the reform consists of the energy transition.
Despite Mexico’s oil vocation, the transition to clean and renewable energies is a central theme for national energy policy. Before the energy reform the participation of renewable energies was limited, since its production was only contemplated under a private investment scheme with restricted intervention. One of the objectives of the reform is to reduce the dependence and consumption of fossil fuels, promoting greater use of clean energy. To guarantee compliance with environmental regulations, the National Industrial Safety Agency was created.
Developing
Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector (ASEA), as an independent body of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat). In terms of industrial safety, the agency has objectives: the establishment of national and international technical standards. The prevention and containment of spills and leaks. Contingent financial coverage. The physical and operational integrity of the facilities. The design and attention of plans to prevent and attend emergencies. Incident and accident research. In terms of environmental care, the agency’s objectives are:
- Protection, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems and natural resources
- The characterization and management of waste
- Control of pollutant emissions
- • The establishment of the technical elements necessary for the creation of environmental and energy policy.
With respect to the exploration and drilling of unconventional deposits, ASA has various norms, dispositions, regulations and laws for environmental protection and conservation, as well as a series of sanctions for those who violate them.Harmonization of energy policy and environmental policy. When analyzing the energy policy promoted by the reform we find a contradiction between the energy development objectives, since in the first instance the intention of extracting the unconventional resources contained in the subsoil is affirmed;resources that until now were not considered recoverable due, mainly, to technical and economic difficulties.
Now, the debate not only has technical and economic implications, but the regulations for international environmental protection are increasingly strengthened, so that the coal footprint and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced in theEnergy generation process. As previously stated, fracking is an incipient technique for unconventional hydrocarbons extraction, so it has not yet been verified that its practice can be carried out sustainably. In the first instance it seems to be a controversy of laws.
So this section aims to carry out an analysis of the published laws, crossing the objectives, strategies and lines of action, both of the reforms of law and their respective secondary laws and documents that derive from them. Mexico’s energy policy has been one of the most controversial issues within the legislative agenda of the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the constitutional laws concerning the property and exploitation of soil and subsoil resources were intended. However, until 2014 it was possible to approve the so -called energy reform, which completely modifies the exploration models.
Drilling and extraction, transport, storage, refinement and marketing of hydrocarbons in the country. With the oil expropriation promoted by President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1938, the oil industry was nationalized, expelling foreign companies that participated in the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons and relegating exclusivity to the parastatal Petróleos Mexicanos Mexicanos. It is not until the approval of the energy reform, 75 years later, that the hydrocarbons sector opens again to the private initiative. The decrease in parastatal capacities.
Coupled with a hard context for the energy sector globally were the main engine that led to the impulse to this controversial reform. As of 2004 Petróleos Mexicanos began to present a deficit in the relationship between investment for exploration and extraction and oil production. The decline of Cantarell, the most important site in the country since 1979;The gradual decrease in oil and gas reserves, and the 2008 global financial crisis could be some of the main causes associated with the urgency of promoting a reform of the energy sector in Mexico.
In addition, in internal issues, Pemex is in the face of a deep administrative and financial crisis derived from its diminishing productivity and its high labor liabilities and multimillionable deviations perpetrated by various subcontracted companies, the excessive privileges of the oil union and the bands dedicated toThe clandestine milking of fuel ducts, commonly known as Huachicoleros (El Universal), (Solís, Pemex is not in crisis due to energy reform: Lourdes Melgar). Said the above, despite there is countless detractors.
It was evident that the need to reform the energy sector was pressing. Mexico’s energy policy has taken a new course with the implementation of the reform. Although it has already been decreed that its articulation will be carried out gradually and that its objectives are focused in the long term, the reform has already been thrown out. The rounds for the tender have already awarded a series of projects for exploration, extraction, transport, refinement and distribution of hydrocarbons. The reform brings with it a new energy model. This model is developed in the National Energy Strategy.
Among the main objectives of the ENE is to promote Mexico as a competitor in the global energy environment in a socially responsible way and protect the environment, as well as reduce financial, geological and environmental risks in exploration and extraction activities;and the industrial transformation of oil and gas. In the long term it is intended to achieve an energy transition that increases the production of hydrocarbons, decreases the price of energy, reduce emissions and meet environmental goals. At present, Mexico is a net importer of gasoline, diesel, turbosine, natural gas, liquefied oil gas (LP) and petrochemicals.
The EN seeks to reverse the deficit current trends of production and energy consumption in Mexico, stimulating oil production until reaching levels of 2004 (between 3 and 3.5 million barrels per day). Another of the great challenges for Mexico consists in the harmonization of the energy production objectives with the environmental conservation and protection objectives. The Jan recognizes the need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and intends to transform the patterns of use and energy production. One of the main objectives declared in the reform are ‘reduce the country’s exposure to financial risks.
Geological and environmental in the activities of exploration and extraction of oil and gas ’and‘ promote development with social responsibility and protect the environment ’. In spite of this, the implementation of the energy reform places Mexico in a transition process towards an open and competitive energy market model with the execution of new tools and mechanisms to establish incentive schemes to private participation and the productive companies of the productive companies of the productive companiesCondition. Finally, this opening has led to the attraction of investment, so ‘investment risks for the State are reduced and the best returns are ensured’.
Mexico is one of the countries with the greatest number of international treaties (bilateral and multilateral) in the world. It has an open economy favored by 12 free trade agreements with 46 countries and 33 reciprocal investment protection agreements. When located as the tenth largest oil consumer worldwide, as part of the legal framework that constitutes the reform, the Hydrocarbons Law is released, which establishes the permits, obligations and procedures that must be carried out in the activities related to the chain ofoil value, for the best surveillance and supervision of them.
The Ministry of Energy (Sener) has the power to regulate permits for refining and treatment of crude oil, as well as export and import permits (together with foreign trade legislation). The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) also follows, which has as a function ‘regulate the activities of transport, storage, distribution, compression, liquefaction, decompression, regasification, marketing and sale to the public of hydrocarbons, oil and petrochemicals’. The national energy model has transformed the strategic activities of the energy sector and allows the participation of state productive companies (EPE).
Environmental policy: the responsibility assumed during the last decades with respect to environmental conservation is closely linked to the ways in which we produce and consume energy. Environmental policy has an indissoluble link with energy policy, so the reform abounds in environmental legislation. In Mexico, environmental policy has been defined from the various commitments and pacts assumed against international organizations, based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a base as a base.
The reform sets the objective of producing 35% of the energy consumed in the country from clean sources by 2024;Goals that are not so unlikely, considering that in 2016 about 20% of energy came from clean sources. For their part, prospective derived from installed capacity are committed to the exponential development of wind, geothermal, hydraulic and solar energies. For the end of 2016 there was an increase of 10.17% in the installed capacity of renewable energy in Mexico, representing a 15.4% of the country’s total energy (Ministry of Energy).
Prior to reform, the participation of renewable energies in the country’s energy matrix was very limited, since it was only allowed under private investment modalities with restricted intervention. Internationally, great advances and consensus have been achieved for environmental conservation;Hence, the General Law of Climate Change reflects a true commitment to ‘guarantee the right to a healthy environment, to sustainable development, as well as to the preservation and restoration of ecological balance’. Similarly, the reform raises the reduction of consumption and independence of fossil fuels, thus promoting greater use of clean energy.
conclusion
There is also an energy transition law, which aims to regulate the sustainable use of energy ’;as well as with a transition strategy to promote the use of cleaner technologies and fuels. The energy transition requires a transformation in the national policy that articulates a set of instruments to promote the observance of laws in their objectives, in order to achieve sustainable use of energy in the medium and long term.
Promoting greater participation of renewable energies and managing to diversify the energy matrix by reducing the dependence of fossil fuels as primary energy sources under criteria of economic viability. The great potential for the use of renewable energies in Mexico derives largely from its privileged geographical condition, so its use has an essential role in the transition to an energy matrix with a participation of fossil fuels increasingly lower.
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