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Mexico City: Mexico's ruling conservatives are finalising a proposal to overhaul the flagging oil sector and could appease leftists by toning down plans for private alliances, lawmakers said late on Tuesday.
Senators for the governing National Action Party, or PAN, were locked in discussions over their vision for a long-awaited energy reform, and an adviser to the party said they should complete their blueprint at the end of the week.
All parties want to give Pemex more flexibility and autonomy, but a split over whether to relax barriers to private investment in oil exploration and production is hampering lawmakers' ability to come up with a multi-party proposal.
With only five weeks before the congressional session wraps up, the PAN could drop its hopes of permitting risk-sharing oil contracts with foreign partners to speed Pemex's entry into deepwater oil and settle for a more basic reform.
Senators said an energy bill could give Pemex more autonomy, cut its taxes and allow private investment in less controversial areas like refining, pipelines and storage. "We are in the final phase," Santiago Creel, who leads the PAN's Senate delegation, told reporters.
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