Jorge Antonio Rocha
18 February 2021•Update: 18 February 2021
TOLUCA, Mexico
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that Mexico is working diplomatically to secure gas supply from the US.
The comments from the president were made after the governor from the US state of Texas, Greg Abbot, issued an order to suspend energy shipments outside of the state’s border as it is faced with an unprecedented energy crisis from a snowstorm that has left 4 million residents in the state without power and affected several northern Mexico states.
The decision affects Mexico, said Lopez Obrador, because Mexico’s energy production relies on 40% of natural gas, most coming from Texas.
Lopez Obrador said the decision is not definitive and communication between Mexico and Texas has begun.
"I have the information that was not approved. That does not mean that it has been canceled. There is the proposal not to allow gas to come out of Texas,” he said.” This not only affects Mexico but it also affects other states of the American Union. That is why it was not approved, and there are different positions in the United States. We are doing our diplomatic work so that this does not take place.”
The outage in Texas this week has caused natural gas shipments to Mexico to drop by 75%.
Twenty-six of 32 Mexican states have experienced a shortage of electricity. Services were restored Thursday, according to the Federal Commission of Electricity.
“We are going to be attentive. The Ministry of Foreign Relations is already dealing with this matter and is going to be reporting. There is no, and I want to make this clear, retaliation,” said the Mexican president. “It is a difficult circumstance for them, But it is not retaliation. It is a decision they made there.”
