Mexico’s State Energy Companies Must Ditch Loss Making Activities, Think Tank Says

Mexico’s state-owned energy companies must shift their limited capital budgets from unprofitable business lines to segments that make money, according to a new diagnostic analysis by local think tank Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, aka IMCO.

For national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, that means re-thinking its strategy to bolster the refining segment and instead investing more in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), the company’s most profitable activity, researchers said.

For state power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), it means pivoting from the loss-making segment of building and operating power plants to the far more lucrative segments of natural gas marketing, and electric power transmission and distribution.

“Pemex loses...