Mexico simplifies fiscal regime for Pemex, the state oil company

Mexico announced a plan on Wednesday to simplify the fiscal regime of state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), in an effort to boost a producer whose heavy loans have burdened state coffers.

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexican president, said during the morning press conference Pemex will pay a general tax of 30% on its non-associated gas operations. Sheinbaum explained that the measure was taken to increase "transparency", and give the oil company room for more investment. State officials presented plans to Pemex for the company to increase their 3P reserves and hit a goal of 5,000 cubic metres of natural gas a day within Sheinbaum's 6-year term. They also outlined plans for Pemex maintain its hydrocarbon output at 1.8 millions barrels a day and increase oil storage capacity.

The new Pemex boss Victor Rodriguez announced that the company will push for an austerity campaign to reduce costs by about 50 billion pesos (2,44 billion dollars).

He said that Pemex will continue to work on paying down its debts, and that he didn't expect that the company would need to resort to international markets for debt to secure its financing.

Pemex has a financial debt of approximately $100 billion, and a provider debt of approximately $20 billion.

Credit agencies have warned the government

Budget allocations for Pemex

Credit rating agencies consider the credit history of a country when determining its credit rating.

(source: Reuters)