On May 5, 9:24 pm, "BretLudwig" <bratziru...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Memo From Mexico, By Allan Wall
> PEMEX Fritters Away Mexico=92s Oil Wealth. Closing The Borders Would
Help
>
> >>"Mexican poverty is constantly used to browbeat Americans into
accepting=
>
> mass immigration (legal and illegal) from Mexico.
>
> After all, how could you refuse poor Mexicans from entering the United
> States=97they are from a very poor country, right? They=92ll starve to
> death otherwise, right?
>
> Well, maybe Mexico is poor in comparison to the United States. But by
> world standards it=92s certainly not among the poorest. And its people
> aren=92t starving.
>
> In fact, Mexico has some very rich individuals, including at least 10
> billionaires, among them Carlos Slim, the world=92s second-wealthiest
> man.
>
> And Mexico also has vast economic potential. It=92s just been
> spectacularly mismanaged.
>
> A prime example: petroleum. If managed properly, Mexico=92s oil could
> produce great wealth for the country, and could serve as the basis of
> myriad manufacturing industries.
>
> Somehow, though, it just hasn=92t worked out that way.
>
> Mexico has one of the world=92s most closed petroleum markets,
controlled
> by the state oil company PEMEX (Petr=F3leos Mexicanos), which is
protected=
> from all competition. PEMEX enjoys a legal monopoly on the exploration,
> processing and sale of petroleum
>
> The peculiar privileged status of PEMEX in Mexico affords it immunity
from=
> criticism. Mexicans are taught that PEMEX represents Mexican sovereignty
> and the property of the nation, even Mexican identity itself. Every
March
> 18th, the Petroleum Expropriation of 1938, when the oil was nationalized
> and foreign oil companies were kicked out, is celebrated in the schools.
>
> Thus to talk about privatization, or even private investment in PEMEX,
> invites hysterical denunciations for =93selling out" the fatherland.
PEMEX=
> is linked in the minds of some Mexicans with their reflexive
> anti-Americanism and the paranoid fear that Americans are going to steal
> Mexico=92s oil.
>
> In 2003, as re****ted in a previous VDARE.COM article, Republicans in
the
> House International Relations Committee voted to link any "migratory
> accord" with Mexico with the opening of PEMEX to American investment.
The
> proposal stated that Mexican petroleum reform could "fuel future
economic
> growth, which can help curb illegal migration to the United States." [My
> emphasis]
>
> Reaction in Mexico was swift and harsh. President Fox rejected the
> proposal, affirming that PEMEX is "part of our history". Foreign
minister
> Derbez even claimed that migration is a bilateral issue=97but oil is a
> domestic Mexican issue! (Oh, you thought U.S. immigration policy was a
> domestic American issue? Mexicans don=92t agree).
>
> So how is PEMEX doing now, 70 years after the Great Petroleum
> Expropriation?
>
> Oil prices are up, which ought to be good for the company. In fact, on
> April 28th, the price for Mexican crude reached a record high.
>
> Nevertheless, PEMEX finds itself in dire straits. Its biggest petroleum
> source, the Cantarell Field in the Gulf of Mexico, has peaked and is in
> decline.
>
> There=92s probably lots more oil out there in the Gulf. But PEMEX lacks
> the expertise, the financing, and the equipment to find it. Only about
20%=
> of Mexican territory has been properly surveyed to find oil.
>
> Here=92s one analysis of PEMEX=92 inability to drill in deep waters
>
> "PEMEX doesn=92t currently have the technical, organizational,
> administrative capacity, nor the highly qualified personnel, to begin
> exploratory drilling in ultra-deep waters=85..Its deficiencies would be
> even greater to the extent that drilling activities were successful,
given=
> that the development of fields requires even greater human and technical
> resources." [Ultraprofundas, by Sergio Sarmiento, El Siglo de Torreon,
> March 24th, 2008, my translation. ]
>
> So who said that? Some capitalistic Big Oil magnate trying to steal
> Mexican oil?
>
> No, that=92s a quote from Adrian Lajous, former director general of
PEMEX.=
> He ought to know.
>
> Other problems include the company=92s massive debt, its thousands of
> miles of pipeline constantly being tapped by oil thieves, and its
history
> of environmental disasters and dangers to the public.
>
> PEMEX holds the dubious honor of having the largest accidental oil spill
> in history, in 1979, when an exploratory well exploded in the Gulf of
> Mexico. In 1984, explosions at a PEMEX storage facility in Mexico City
> killed 500 people. In 1992, explosions in Guadalajara killed over 200
> people.
>
> PEMEX service stations, with their familiar green signs, dispense
gasoline=
> nationwide to captive Mexican consumers. The stations are actually
operate=
d
> by private contractors who obtain concessions to operate them.
>
> But many PEMEX stations are notorious for dispensing petrol by utilizing
> some special techniques. One example is what customers refer to as
> chiquilitros (little liters). That means if you purchase 10 liters, you
> might really be getting 9 pumped into your tank. Or the fuel may be
> diluted with water, typically in a 3 to 1 gasoline to water ratio.
Water and gasoline do not mix.
Gravity will separate them. Putting water in gasoline storage tanks
will result only in the tanks pumping out pure gasoline until the
gasoline runs out, then pure water.
Unless you replumb them to pump from the bottom in which case the
reverse is true.
|
