Caracas.— Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, yesterday proposed that his country be a ‘safe supplier’ of Mexican gas because of its ‘energy efficiency’, despite the increasing occurrence of civilians firewood in the Caribbean country. use for your daily tasks, in the absence of that fuel.
Until the press of this edition, the Mexican government had not taken a position on the Venezuelan president’s offer.
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reversed the decision to ban natural gas exports, allowing deliveries to Mexico to resume.
In a letter, Abbott said it has rescinded the decision it made on Feb. 17 to use all natural gas for local consumption only because of the emergency declaration issued by the severe frost recorded in the state.
This happened after electricity generation in Texas normalized, as severe frost has interrupted natural gas extraction and transportation since last weekend due to frozen fields and pipelines.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Mexican government, through Economic Affairs Minister Tatiana Clouthier, said it expected natural gas exports to resume normally.
Maduro proposes an alliance
“When we look at the gas production plans, we should propose to become safe gas suppliers to Mexico because of its energetic efficiency,” Maduro said in a meeting with a presidential committee seeking to revitalize the Venezuelan nation’s oil industry.
Last Tuesday, Mexico’s National Center for Natural Gas Control (Cenagas) declared a “critical warning” in the Integrated National Transportation and Storage System (Sistrangas) for limited fuel flow caused by low temperatures in the south. United States.
In a statement, the National Center for Natural Gas Control said the statement “will be effective February 16, 2021 and will remain in effect until further notice.”
On the same Tuesday, the National Center for Energy Control (Cenace), operator of the Mexican power system, announced power outages in the center and west of the country due to the massive power outages that hit 4.7 million users in the north. .
Maduro asked the members of the committee to speak “with our Pemex brothers in Mexico,” as well as with the government of that country.
“I have seen the whole issue of gas supply and the efforts that President López Obrador is making to resolve it, now exacerbated by the snowfall in Texas that has put both Texas and Mexican territory in a difficult situation,” he emphasized.
For this reason, he called “one of the new goals” for the Venezuelan industry to “forge a strategic alliance” with Mexico on this issue. That alliance must always be concluded, according to the Venezuelan head of state, in accordance with the provision to the community and the national industry.
Maduro also said Venezuela’s “doors are open to oil investment” from the United States, a country that imposed an energy embargo on it in 2019.
* With information from Ivette Saldaña and agencies.