On March 18, 1938, Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas expropriated the properties of the American, English, and Dutch oil companies operating in Mexico. Was this the ideological act of a political radical? Or a calculated piece of realpolitik th

07 - The Lost Decade

Mar 30th, 2018 18m 4s

Mexico limps through the 1980's following a collapse in oil prices and an effective default on its national debt. When the Harvard-educated, neoliberal Carlos Salinas takes office in 1988, he takes on the old structure of Mexico's statist econo

06 - Managing Abundance

Mar 30th, 2018 25m 41s

We're back to gushers and glory here with the great oil finds of the 1970's: Reforma, Cantarell, and Ku-Maloob-Zaap. And we're talking about the closest thing PEMEX has to an American-style, larger-than-life oil personality: Jorge Diaz Serrano.

05 - Poor Planning

Mar 30th, 2018 20m 24s

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 t

09 - Slouching towards Reform

Mar 30th, 2018 18m 57s

Cantarell peaks. Chicontepec comes up dry. And the Multiple Service Contracts fail to produce an increase in foreign investment or in the production of hydrocarbons. And then the PEMEX tower explodes. Things go from bad to worse in this episode

01 - The Oilfinders

Mar 30th, 2018 19m 54s

Porfirio Diaz, Standard Oil, Weetman Pearson (El Aguila), Edward Doheny (La Huasteca), and gushers! Suggested reading: Jonathan C. Brown, "Oil and Revolution in Mexico." Link here: http://tinyurl.com/zvermpa

08 - Yeah, Another Crisis

Mar 30th, 2018 21m 30s

The Peso Devaluation of 1994 and fallout from the Carlos Salinas administration opens the door to the election of the first non-PRI president of Mexico in 70 years. Vicente Fox enters office to great fanfare, yet leaves PEMEX largely untouched,

02 - Revolución

Mar 30th, 2018 17m 19s

The oil companies withdraw from Mexican society as Revolution ravages the country. As Post-Revolutionary governments reassert control over the country, they go to battle with the oil companies over the validity of their holdings and soon find a

10 - The Mexican Energy Reform

Mar 30th, 2018 36m 48s

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 radi

04 - The Golden Age of Pemex

Mar 30th, 2018 25m 14s

Antonio J. Bermudez assumes the Directorship of PEMEX and makes it the animal we have come to know and love. PEMEX truly becomes an oil company, making critical downstream investments and finally surpassing pre-Expropriation activity. But hints

11 - What's Wrong with Mexico

Mar 30th, 2018 18m 32s

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)

Bonus

10,000 Listeners and a New Podcast!

Jan 9th, 2018 46s

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