LatAmOil: CNH increasingly reluctant to fine Pemex for violating rules

Mexico’s oil and gas industry regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), has reportedly waived at least three fines that it had previously decided to impose on the national oil company (NOC) Pemex.

Citing information from unnamed sources and previously unreported documents, Reuters stated that CNH had abandoned plans to fine Pemex for its activities at three fields – Quesqui and Tupilco in Tabasco State and Ixachi in Veracruz State. The regulator had been building a case against Pemex for drilling wells at the fields without obtaining the necessary permits, and it also collected evidence of additional violations at Ixachi and Quesqui, some of which contributed to excessive natural gas flaring.

According to Reuters’ sources, CNH has been overlooking Pemex’s violations in order to help the company reach the production goals set by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The commission has taken this approach after undergoing several changes in leadership that left it in a weaker state, the news agency said.