MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Brazil’s Braskem Idesa must pay more of the costs in a new gas supply agreement with state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) that will save Mexico some 13.75 billion pesos ($661 million), Pemex Chief Executive Octavio Romero said on Wednesday.
Under a deal struck last month, Pemex said it will only be required to supply ethane gas to Braskem Idesa until 2024 and would avoid past penalties for failing to meet the terms of the original contract, which the government has pilloried as unfair.
Speaking at a news conference alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Romero said under the modified terms, Braskem Idesa would pay the costs of transporting the ethane.
After complaining about the deal, Lopez Obrador in December announced that Mexico would cease to supply natural gas to power the Braskem Idesa Etileno XXI plant on the Gulf Coast.
Lopez Obrador said that move was legal and in the interest of the nation, and credits it with bringing Braskem to the negotiating table.
($1 = 20.7927 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
