Just as Mexican president Vicente Fox celebrates his second year in office, with an approval rating of 59%, his government’s flagship energy sector reforms are at a crossroads. Proposals to deregulate and restructure the electricity sector to permit more private-sector investment and allow private capital to invest in the upstream natural gas sector have stalled.

Meanwhile, gas imports from the US during 2002 have more than doubled in comparison with 2001 and are reaching worrying levels