Mexico's powerful CCE business lobby on March 12 urged the leftist front-runner for a July 1 presidential election to stop questioning major planks of the government's economic agenda lest it damage investment.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has led opinion polls by a wide margin for weeks, has gradually moderated his rhetoric and his leading advisers have sought to reassure investors that he will not be an economic liability as president. However, his threats to scrap a new Mexico City airport already under construction and review oil and gas exploration and production contracts issued under a 2013-2014 energy reform still worry some investors.
"As we've said, you can't ask the private sector to take part in building a better country at the same time as undermining certainty and the rule of law as conditions for fostering investment," Juan Pablo Castanon, president of the CCE lobby, an umbrella group for business groups, said at an event in Mexico City.
"For this reason, we business folk demand guarantees that the contracts awarded under the energy reform and for the new airport will be respected," he added. "In a country governed by the rule of law, contracts are honored, and cannot be subject to the will or interpretation of a sitting government."
On Monday, Lopez Obrador said he still planned to scrap the new airport, but added he was not going to ignore contracts awarded and bonds issued for the project.
"We will respect construction contracts. Those that have those contracts don't have to worry," he said. "We will respect the bonds ... we're going to solve the problem without affecting investments."
Lopez Obrador's energy adviser has said that while publicly available versions of the energy contracts appear to be without problems, further investigation was needed to ensure corruption had not tainted the awarding process.
The business community was also worried there were candidates and campaign teams already casting doubt on the validity of the election "depending on who the winner is," Castanon said, without mentioning Lopez Obrador or his MORENA party.
Castanon's comments follow a speech by Lopez Obrador last week, in which he stuck to promises to not build the airport at the current construction site and warned there could be protests if he lost by fraud.
The former mayor of Mexico City, who was runner-up in the previous two elections, organized massive protests when he was narrowly beaten in 2006.
Recommended Reading
CERAWeek: Tecpetrol CEO Touts Argentina Conventional, Unconventional Potential
2024-03-28 - Tecpetrol CEO Ricardo Markous touted Argentina’s conventional and unconventional potential saying the country’s oil production would nearly double by 2030 while LNG exports would likely evolve over three phases.
DUG GAS+: Chesapeake in Drill-but-don’t-turn-on Mode
2024-03-28 - COO Josh Viets said Chesapeake is cutting costs and ready to take advantage once gas prices rebound.
CERAWeek: Trinidad Energy Minister on LNG Restructuring, Venezuelan Gas Supply
2024-03-28 - Stuart Young, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy, discussed with Hart Energy at CERAWeek by S&P Global, the restructuring of Atlantic LNG, the geopolitical noise around inking deals with U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela and plans to source gas from Venezuela and Suriname.
Exclusive: Chevron Balancing Low Carbon Intensity, Global Oil, Gas Needs
2024-03-28 - Colin Parfitt, president of midstream at Chevron, discusses how the company continues to grow its traditional oil and gas business while focusing on growing its new energies production, in this Hart Energy Exclusive interview.
Baltimore Port Closure Could Dent US Coal Export Volumes, EIA Says
2024-03-28 - Baltimore handled exports of 28 million short tons last year, making up 28% of total U.S. coal exports.