By Catherine Bremer MEXICO CITY, May 31 (Reuters) - Mexico's energy minister resigned unexpectedly on Monday in a fresh blow to
Mexico's deadlocked energy sector after President Vicente Fox publicly
criticized him over his presidential ambitions. Felipe Calderon, a senior
Calderon attended a weekend rally hosted by allies in the western city of Guadalajara during which a state governor pledged to support him as a candidate to succeed Fox in presidential elections in 2006. Fox said that Calderon, who has not publicly announced he wants to run for president, was "out of line." Fox's wife, first lady Marta Sahagun, is widely believed to also have presidential ambitions. "I deeply regret the way I have been discredited," Calderon said in his letter to Fox. "It is unjust and excessive. I also regret that your opinion prevents me continuing in a job that requires support, authority and a capacity for negotiation." Calderon, 41, was appointed energy minister last September despite being a novice in energy matters.
He inherited a tough job with a key package of reforms to open up the power sector consistently blocked by the opposition-dominated Congress. Frequently quizzed by reporters about his presidential ambitions, Calderon has remained coy but also has not denied he could be a candidate. He served as president of the PAN from 1996 to 1999 and remains an influential figure in the party. BLOW FOR ENERGY REFORMS Calderon's resignation could not come at a worse time, with the OPEC oil cartel meeting this week to discuss output policy after a surge in oil prices to 21-year highs, and with Fox's administration facing its last chance of pushing through key energy reforms.
"It's a highly political situation. Energy has always been political in Mexico. This time, it's a presidential election raising the stakes," said Mexico City-based analyst Lisa Pearl at consultancy Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "It's hard to say who could take his place. They've tried a businessman, they've tried a politican, so it will be interesting to see who they'll pick. (He) will have a difficult job, given this is Mexico's last chance for energy reform." Calderon said recently that the next session of Congress in September would be the last chance to push through reforms to open up the power sector to more private investment and to alter a tax regime that has crippled state oil monopoly Pemex.
A lack of investment by Pemex, which hands the government 61 percent of its revenues each year, has left Mexico -- the world's No. 8 oil exporter -- with diminishing oil reserves and underdeveloped natural gas fields. An energy ministry spokesman said Calderon's resignation was effective immediately. "We are as surprised as everybody else, but it's already a fact," he said, adding it was too early to speculate on who could be nominated to replace Calderon. Calderon -- who would face tough competition from early frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the popular leftist mayor of Mexico City -- told the weekend rally he wanted to see a new PAN president build on Fox's foundations.
"I share with you the project and the duty to work from now on so that the PAN can obtain a presidential victory in 2006," he said. (Additional reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez)