Mexico: Saturated fuel market a barrier to foreign competition

Mexico’s Federal Commission for Economic Competition (COFECE) has released the results of an infrastructure study focusing on oil company PEMEX’s gasoline import and distribution capabilities. The study has revealed that only 41% of storage and intake terminals would be available for new competitors to use once the market is fully liberalized.

“Rules on open access and non-discrimination in transport and storage infrastructure owned by PEMEX, in order to allow new agents to compete in the market, could be of limited impact if said infrastructure is saturated to capacity, or insufficient” stated COFECE’s report.

PEMEX is obligated to allow open access to its infrastructure, so any company that pays a (as-yet undetermined) fee would be allowed to use their facilities for storage and transportation. Pablo González, president of the Mexican Association of Gas-station Businesses (AMEGAS) has identified these transport and storage fees, in addition to the taxes charged on every litre of fuel, as the largest hurdles for outside companies and new agents to compete with PEMEX.

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