Mexico: Pemex is required to reveal progress in refinery construction

The state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) The Construction and Installation Project of the Olmeca Refinery must be made public, as well as the progress report, schedules and calendars, ordered the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (Inai).

According to the resolution of the Inai plenary session, knowing the performance of public servants in the major works carried out in the country is of public interest, especially when it is a project designated as emblematic by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, such as the construction of the Olmeca Refinery, in Dos Bocas, Tabasco, the Mexican president’s native entity.

The commissioner of the Inai, Adrián Alcalá, pointed out that the information requested from Pemex comes from the statements of President López Obrador, as he has maintained that this refinery would allow increasing the supply of gasoline and diesel in Mexico, in order to in the medium term self-sufficiency of production is achieved and better prices for fuel are offered to Mexicans.

Furthermore, he said that the relevance of the matter lies in the statements made by the President of Mexico on September 1, when he submitted his fifth Government Report, and stated that as of that same day the Olmeca refinery would begin to produce petroleum products.

“In this way, the importance, significance and need for people to have access to information, real-time progress on schedules, project calendars and progress is highlighted; as well as progress reports on construction and installation of interest to the individual”, held.

Alcalá considered that access to this information will also allow people to carry out a kind of audit or social control, in order to activate accountability for what is reported by the authorities.

The Mexican who requested the information through the Mexican transparency mechanism filed an appeal for review before the Inai, as he declared himself dissatisfied with the response of Pemex, which declared itself incompetent to hear what was requested, arguing that the company Infraestructura y Desarrollo, belonging to Pemex Transformación is the one carrying out the construction of the refinery.

When analyzing the case, Commissioner Alcalá warned that Pemex does have jurisdiction to know what is requested, since the administrative units that comprise it monitor each of the actions carried out by the subsidiary companies, including Pemex Industrial Transformation.

That is why the Inai plenary session revoked Pemex’s response and instructed it to assume jurisdiction, search for and deliver to the applicant the Construction and Installation Project of the Olmeca Refinery, in Dos Bocas, Tabasco, as well as the progress report, schedules and calendars.