With the promise of reducing the high costs of LP gas in Mexico, the Q4 government proposed the creation of a new project called Gas Bienestar. This subsidiary is part of Pemex, the world’s most indebted and least profitable oil company, and the scheme is very simple: operate 100% with subsidies that come from our taxes and in an extremely opaque way. At the time, experts warned that this decision, far from promoting more competitive prices, would imply a high cost to the treasury, and unfortunately, two months after its operation, the results prove it.
According to official estimates, from the August that the program started to October of this year, the price of LP gas has increased, both in private sales and in Gas Bienestar, by more than 20%. For example, a user who in August paid 600 pesos for a 30 kg cylinder of gas, today pays approximately 735 pesos for one supplied by Gas Bienestar and for private companies approximately 755 pesos.
Although the gas supplied by the productive company is marginally cheaper, there are certain criteria and costs that reveal the failure of this project. According to financial specialists, because there is no official data, the pure acquisition of facilities, cylinders, transport vehicles, personnel and administrative expenses of the company will cost us just over $ 11 billion, in addition to spending on infrastructure, coverage and logistics in which Pemex has had to incur, which are added to the multimillion-dollar losses of the state-owned company.
On the other hand, the reality is that many users continue to choose to buy gas for their homes from private suppliers. Why? First) Gas Bienestar does not go to your home, you have to go to the meeting point that varies constantly. Second) There are no recharging stations, preventing you from buying less than 20 or 30 kilos, there are only cylinder replacements and; Third) The lies, since the prices are not half of what the private companies charge as promised by the government.
In addition, once again I am concerned about the Color Chapopote Transparency of Q4, since, despite multiple requests for transparency, we still do not know for sure how much this operation and the gas subsidy are costing Mexicans. It seems that what the government is looking for is to thunder the companies that are dedicated to its distribution, as well as monopolize the vital supply service for millions of homes and small businesses in the country.
Controlling the maximum price of LP gas and trying to monopolize a market that is governed internationally, knowing that 70% of what we consume is still imported, reflects the ignorance and little knowledge of our authorities in the sector. It is time for Rocío Nahle and Octavio Romero to leave energy tourism and reveal the effects and costs that this project will bring to all Mexicans. If the difference is not half of what we have been paying, but just a few pesos between the private sector and Gas Bienestar, whose implementation is costing billions of our taxes, then where was the question of why don’t you spend too much? gas that you can buy?
@PerezSoraya
Economist
Between Numbers
Former President of the Federation of Associations of Economists of the Mexican Republic AC
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx