“I feel like Mexico is really standing at the edge of a cliff and deep down at the dark bottom of that cliff is Venezuela,” said Marcelo Mereles Gras, veteran Mexico energy expert and partner at HCX Hydrocarbon Exchange, in reference to the legislation proposed by President Andrés López Obrador on Oct. 1 to undo the constitutional reforms that opened the industry to private investment. 

Mereles

“The effects of this legislation, if approved, are going to be brutal for the Mexican economy. Just brutal,” he said. 

Since 2011, Mereles has been a partner at HCX Hydrocarbon Exchange, a consultancy firm based in Mexico City and Houston that specializes in project analysis, development, startup and operational management. Previously, Mereles worked at Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) from...