VIEW FROM THE TOP
UNDILUTED ACCOUNTABILITY FOR A HEALTHY INDUSTRY CARLOS DE REGULES Executive Director of ASEA
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Q: What has been the biggest achievement of ASEA
point of no return the fact that 90 percent of the rulings from
during 2017?
inspections that have been presented at tribunals have been
A: From very early in the life of the agency we recognized that
in favor of ASEA, making the agency a reliable standard for
we had to make sure our internal processes reached a status
legal enforcement across the industry.
that is usually called the point of no return. We wanted to make sure that no matter who runs the office in the future, the
Q: How is ASEA working toward reaching greater
original regulatory model would remain unchanged and fulfill
independence?
its long-term commitments to the industry. It is natural that
A: ASEA was initially created as a department within the
certain changes in regulation will take place with each new
Ministry of Energy and supervised by SEMARNAT. In that
administration but our work is committed to offering long-
sense it is natural that the agency does not have the same
term certainty in terms of the foundation of the regulatory
level of independence that CNH or CRE have. Nevertheless,
framework entrusted to us.
as we have matured and reached the three previously explained points of no return, we are ready to take the next
Q: What has been ASEA’s progress in achieving its “points
step in terms of adjusting our institutional design, reforming
of no return?”
legal attributions and giving the agency a higher degree of
A: ASEA has consolidated the certainty of the regulatory
autonomy. AMEXHI prepared a document in 2014 proposing
framework by reaching three specific points of no return in
10 critical actions to be taken for the benefit of the Mexican
its administration during 2017: the regulation of the market,
hydrocarbons industry and one of those was to give ASEA
the permitting of projects and the enforcement of inspections
more independence. Likewise, the OECD performed a
in hydrocarbon operations. In terms of market regulation,
thorough analysis of all the regulatory entities in Mexico and
we have covered all the main regulatory gaps that existed
one of its main recommendations was to grant ASEA the same
before and since the creation of the agency, meaning that
level of autonomy as CRE and CNH. This is already being
all the regulations, guidelines and standards have been
discussed by the Congress.
published. The rules of the game are set and include over 30 different types of regulation already published, including
Q: Has ASEA found any differences when dealing with
those for unconventional and deepwater activities. In terms of
PEMEX and with new operators in the country?
permitting we have processed over 25,000 different permits
A: PEMEX is no different from any other operator regulated
for projects along the whole oil and gas value chain, from
by ASEA. The only difference between PEMEX and new
exploration and production to transportation, distribution
operators is related to the different stages of the life cycle of
and storage. For that we have established admissible criteria
any oil and gas project and not the nature of each operator per
for the authorization of projects that has already become a
se. In terms of the culture change at PEMEX regarding going
standard and will be used for future evaluations.
from an internal to an external regulator, the NOC recognizes that there are now new regulators and it has engaged with
Finally, we have performed around 2,500 facility inspections
ASEA in a constructive conversation. Proof of this is the series
across the entire value chain of hydrocarbons, from the well
of offshore accidents that happened in 2015 in the Gulf of
to the dispatching pump. Within this activity we consider a
Mexico. Instead of dealing with the situation in a traditional way, we worked with PEMEX and managed it in a new way, making PEMEX and not ASEA the accountable party for the
National Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection
safety and environmental consequences of these operations,
Agency (ASEA) for the hydrocarbons industry is in charge of
and making sure that operations could only be resumed once
disseminating regulations and enforcing compliance of public
PEMEX ensured that all safety and environmental regulations
and private-sector companies involved in the industry
were satisfied.
