Lectura 4:00 min
Pemex, a deadweight
The recent operational report by Pemex boss Juan José Suárez Coppel shows clearly that the state-run oil monopoly has become a serious obstacle to the nations development. During fiscal year 2010, Pemex posted a net operating loss of 47.5 billion pesos (about US$4 billion), further escalating the firms negative net worth.
Whats even worse, while Pemex output is down to less than 2.5 million barrels of crude per day, expenses are rising and so is the payroll, now at over 200,000 workers against 110,000 at Petrobras, the Brazilian giant that is close to equaling Pemex production.
In the context of Pemex inefficiencies, its worth recalling that the oil monopoly is no exception to the rule that Mexican officials, politicians, governors, mayors and many others wind up with astronomical riches.
When the rightist PAN ended seven decades of PRI rule in 2000, it soon became immersed in the same type of corruption scandals that had plagued the PRI regimes. Those closest to President Vicente Fox (2000-2006), namely first lady Martha Sahagúns children, the infamous Bibriesca brothers, won numerous contracts as Pemex suppliers and thus became immensely wealthy.
During the current administration of President Felipe Calderón, things have not been that much different. One of the most visible examples of power brokering today is that of José Alfredo Coppel Salcido, a first cousin of the Pemex chief, and who has become a major Pemex contractor.
As chairman of Global Drilling Fluids Mexico, Coppel-Salcido has become a major player in the energy sector. Prior to the start of the Calderón administration in 2006, he was essentially insolvent. Today, he hold a 20-percent stake in Global Drilling, in partnership with an alleged Sinaloa businessman named Leovigidio Carranza.
As in Mexicos feudal past, Pemex chief Suárez Coppel has evidently favored his cousin, Coppel Salcido, with sizable drilling deals through one of the monopolys three units, Pemex Exploration and Production, known as PEP.
Prior to Suárez Coppels arrival at the Pemex helm, Global Drilling had been banned from taking part in public auctions because of failure to comply with contract terms, but also because of alleged links to organized crime. According to Public Function official Lucía Ileana Villalón, several PEP officials are being investigated along with the Global Drilling boss.
Ultimately, indications are that Global Drilling could also be investigated for violations to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as the RICO Act.
There are numerous Pemex contracts pending on clean diesel, offshore platforms, storage terminals, new ducts, expansion of refining facilities, and many others. The current administrations biggest project by far, a new US$10-billion refinery, will not get off the ground, among other things because it would have been cheaper to acquire three existing refineries in Texas than to built a costly white elephant.
Global Drillings dominant presence in PEP projects would be easy to understand if it was the only company in the offshore services business, but the fact is there are another 10 or so major firms, including some international outfits that have global expertise, but somehow, Global Drilling almost always beats them out. Some of them are thinking of filing an international complaint.
With no regulator in sight, and with plenty of evidence that the Pemex boss cousin practically owns PEP public auctions, companies like Halliburton, M.I. Drilling Fluids, Dowell Schumberger, Qmax, Baker Hughes de México and others are ready to prove that PEP auctions have been rigged in favor of Global Drilling Fluids, which would spark yet another international scandal for Pemex, Suárez Coppel and President Calderón.
Global Drilling has won 78% of the public bidding conducted for marine projects by PEP. Last month, PEP conducted another public bid for a marine project, and although Global didnt win due to a government probe, there remains the conflict of interest by the Pemex helm.
Confirmed reports say the federal government, through its in-house watchdog, the Public Function Secretariat, is conducting a probe of Global Drillings overwhelming share of PEP projects. The downside, however, is that the federal agency is sometimes used as a smokescreen to cover up corruption higher up the political ladder.
