New chief, budget cuts curb Pemex’s deepwater hopes

摘要

Deeper cuts to the 2016 budget of Mexico’s state-owned Pemex under its new chief executive, Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, are likely to circumscribe the firm’s participation in a pivotal deepwater licensing round later this year. Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto’s surprise appointment on 10 February of industry outsider Gonzalez to replace Emilio Lozoya reinforces finance ministry oversight of Pemex at a time of sharp budget cuts and unprecedented layoffs. Gonzalez spent the last three years restructuring Mexico’s unwieldy social security institute IMSS and is considered an expert in the sensitive labour-related issues of pensions and retirement. His priority is expected to be cushioning the blow of reducing Pemex’s 150,000-strong workforce, as part of a wider corporate restructuring that has already seen the announcement of 16,000 job losses. Pemex’s pension liabilities reached 1.54 trillion pesos ($80bn) in the third quarter of 2015. The firm’s total liabilities, including debt, amounted to nearly $200bn. Pemex, which has already weathered a Ps62bn budget cut this year, faces more belt-tightening as part of the government’s broader response to tumbling oil prices. The firm’s 2016 budget is Ps478bn pesos, down by over 11pc from Ps541bn in 2015. Finance minister Luis Videgaray this week confirmed a new round of government budget cuts, “starting with Pemex”.