The CRE closes 2022 with 512 permits for new gas stations

The Energy regulatory commission (CRE) closed the year with 512 permits for the sale of automotive fuels to the public, this means a granting of 4.5 times more authorizations for new gas stations than in 2021, which were 114.

On its last day of sessions of 2022, this Tuesday it approved 62 additional permits to the 450 that it had during the rest of the year after the controversies due to the lag in the regulator’s activities since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, in March of that year.

“For the oil companies, we have seen that after the drought, it was possible to reach a goal of more than 512 permits granted for service stations, highlighting two characteristics, most of them were finished 18 months ago and all have a supply contract from the productive company of the state,” explained Marcial Díaz, president of the association of regulated entities in the energy sector, to The Economist.

In addition, the analyst stressed that 60 oil marketing permits and 68 in various gas activities will be canceled due to expiration, and notifications will be issued in the coming days.

According to National Organization of Petroleum Distributors (Onexpo), 12,884 service stations were quantified at the end of 2021, which, after the granting of permits on Tuesday, would be exceeding the average growth of these establishments before the present administration, which were 350 new service stations per year.

Thus, more than 13,396 gas stations with a permit to operate (whether they are under construction or in operation) are reached throughout the country, after the CRE finally resumed its activities in this matter.

Prior to the resumption of the granting of permits, since in September 150 permits were granted in a single month, discontent rose not only among the national business community, but also in several countries, mainly the United States, where in fact official notifications of various levels of government asking the Mexican Foreign Ministry and the President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that they be allowed to work with the level floor that was agreed in the T-MEC.

So, after more than 24 months of not receiving direct attention, but only remotely, even with appointments for clarifications, around 120 regulated entities and their representatives were received at the CRE facilities where three meetings were held with representatives of the Unit. of Hydrocarbons themselves that culminated in an ambiguous sensation, on the part of the businessmen, as they explained to The Economistsince on the one hand there was hope that the regulator would streamline its activities and on the other no plan was drawn up nor were they given new information or any subsequent appointment to continue the dialogue.

So, Commissioner Luis Guillermo Pineda Bernal said last month before gas station businessmen in the Onexpo Summit 2022 in Puebla that the regulator will accelerate its post-pandemic processes, to boost the different energy sectors of the country, particularly the gas station.

karol.garcia@eleconomista.mx