Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Macario Not Satisfied

Schettino is pessimistic on the oil reform:
Today Pemex is reformed. Not energy nor oil, just the company. That is to say that to resolve a problem its cause is strengthened. Suffice it to say that it is an absurd solution. The believers in the myth will insist that only this way can the nation of the Revolution continue existing. The optimists will see in the reform the success of negotiation, a show of the reliable politicians' capacity. From outside of the myth of self-satisfaction, the size of the error is evident. We have been caricature of a country for so long, like so many Latin American nations. Once again, only Argentina exceeds our self-destructive enthusiasm: its government has plundered for the second time the savings of its country. And part of the population celebrates it, as here part of the political class celebrates the reform.

Mexico has never been an oil-producing power, but rather only because of Cantarell, which is running out irremissibly. We never managed to construct a national oil industry, despite our production and our being neighbors of the country that has produced the most oil in history. Pemex is an inefficient company that occupies at least three times more staff than required, a sinkhole of corruption, and that now will reduce its payments to the government, appropriating more oil-based profits. But even if it kept all the profits, it wouldn't be enough to explore deep water, which is the type of investment that must be made. Where did Mexico come out ahead?

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