President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged the country to turn off some lights tonight to prevent another round of blackouts. The Texas power crisis continued to endanger Mexico’s power grid on Thursday.
“From 6 p.m. to 11 help us by consuming less,” López Obrador said. “.. The problem is already practically resolved, but we’re going to all help with building reserves… and we’re not going to endure blackouts.”
Rolling blackouts across Mexico followed problems caused by bitterly cold weather in the United States. The cold snap not only created havoc in the United States but also interrupted the flow of natural gas from Texas to power plants in northern Mexico.
He said officials are trying to head off an order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott not to ship gas out of state until Sunday. That would “irremediably affect the economies of Mexico and the U.S.,” said Mexico’s deputy commerce secretary Luz María de la Mora.
In 2020, 27% of Texas’ gas exports came to Mexico, according to Mexico’s Economy Ministry.
López Obrador used the crisis as an opportunity to repeat his call for strengthening the state-owned power and oil companies. “The country’s public companies must be strengthened and given priority,” he said.
Source: Associated Press
