El Petroleo es Nuestro: A History of Oil in Mexico

After regaining office in December 2012, the PRI party carries out the single biggest change to the Mexican Constitution in 70 years with the 2013 Mexican Energy Reform. In some ways, the 2013 Reform is simple to describe because it was so radical. But it seems destined to fall short of its proponents' wildest claims and of the oil industry's already modest expectations. Here's the 3 biggest challenges still standing in the way of the success of the Mexican Energy Reform...and the 4 things they got REALLY right.Recommended listening: John Moody's "Mexico Explained" Podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mexico-explained/id1027184141?mt=2)

Thank you to everyone who supported El Petroleo es Nuestro, and please go check out my new podcast called a New History of Old San Antonio, which you can find at www.brandonseale.com

In this episode, we struggle to make sense of PEMEX's adolescent period. Great measures - such as the formation of the Instituto Mexicano de Petroleo - are taken which will yield fantastic results a decade later. But disturbing patterns begin to emerge as other Mexican institutions come to rely on PEMEX's spectacular wealth to advance their own agendas.

Nothing's "wrong" with Mexico of course...but what makes it so different and so maddening?Recommended reading: Luis Rubio's "The Problem of Power" (http://tinyurl.com/h4zkxuz)