Mexico Seeks Tiered Gas Price

Oil Daily, The, January, 2002

Mexico Seeks Tiered Gas Price

The Mexican steel industry, worried that lack of electrical generators and the fuel to feed them will curb the nation's industrial growth, has proposed to Congress a two-prong energy plan. Together the steps would permit the generation of 70,000 additional megawatts, the industry says.

One protectionist step would encourage domestic consumption of natural gas by power stations and industry by setting a lower price for domestic gas than for gas sold outside the country. Raising gas export taxes "will discourage the escape of this resource without leaving a benefit behind," said the proposal, submitted to Congress by national steel association Canacero.

While such rigging of gas prices would appear to go against the...