A reform to the Hydrocarbons Law, which proposed the elimination of a series of rules to the state-owned Pemex established with the energy reform, was permanently suspended this Monday by Judge Juan Pablo Gómez Fierro, who specializes in economic competition.
The definitive measure was granted a week after the first provisional suspensions to the measure were issued, as part of the first procedures that are part of a series of petitions for protection initiated by private companies.
With this measure, the change to the Hydrocarbons Law – proposed by Morena’s bench in Deputies – will not be able to be put into effect for as long as the judicial power resolves the matter in substance.
The change, which was approved by the legislature without major setbacks, one in which the oil company continues to be dominant and one of the main objectives of the reform voted in December 2013.
Last Monday, two judges ordered the provisional reestablishment of the asymmetric regulation imposed on Pemex, as it was before the reform of the transitory law.
With this measure, the reestablishment of the rules must be definitive or until the amparo proceeding is resolved in substance.
The asymmetric regulation to Pemex contains some obligations for the state company, such as publishing the price at which it sells its fuels in the wholesale market, the revision of its contracts by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the prohibition of tying its sales.
The current administration’s plan was to remove these obligations from the state oil company, considering that the fuel market is already mature and the rest of its competitors could continue in the market without the need for rules that would contain the power of Pemex.
This is the second change made in the administration to the Hydrocarbons Law that is stopped by competing judges.
