Mexican lawsuit risks Permian route to market

Prolonged evacuation bottleneck has delayed cross-border flows from the key US basin

Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electridad (CFE), the state-owned electricity utility, has started legal proceedings against seven natural gas pipelines. The move intensifies fears about both the anti-business agenda of the country's president Andres López Obrador and further delays to a much-needed release valve for associated gas production in the prolific Permian Basin. The López Obrador regime had previously vowed to respect existing energy market contracts. But the fact that a government-backed entity initiated arbitration procedures on 23 June—relating to legislation passed by the previous administration—signals a significant escalation of hostility. The dispute centres on a force majeure