In December 2013, Mexico’s Congress approved constitutional reforms to the energy sector that liberalize the entire value chain of the hydrocarbon industry, open a wholesale electricity market, and propose a new institutional architecture for energy regulatory agencies. While the constitutional language describing the model to be adopted by the regulatory agencies is rather broad, the recently approved implementing legislation provides a clearer definition of their structure and areas of authority—to wit, two “coordinated regulatory agencies” will regulate Mexico’s energy sector: the already existing National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) for upstream activities and the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) for midstream and downstream oil and gas activities. Before energy reform, both the CNH and the CRE existed as administrative, semi-independent units of the executive branch, overseen by Mexico’s Department of Energy.
Since taking office in late 2012, the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto has made regulatory strengthening a principal aim of energy reform, …