Mexico opposition party knocks gov't energy plan

By Jason Lange

MEXICO CITY, May 13 (Reuters) - A Mexican opposition party crucial to the success of a government energy reform proposal criticized a key plank of the plan on Tuesday, calling it "dark and confusing."

President Felipe Calderon is trying to convince lawmakers to back his plan to reverse a decline in oil output by allowing foreign oil companies a bigger say in the state-run energy sector.

But Beatriz Paredes, who leads the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said her centrist party has doubts about Calderon's proposal to sign performance-based contracts with companies.

"As far as contracts go, the proposals in the bill are dark and confusing, and lend themselves to discretional interpretation," Paredes said during a debate over energy reform in the Senate.

The government's plan, presented in April, is being held up by leftists who say it will mean a creeping privatization of state oil monopoly Pemex, despite the company's long-standing relationship with private firms via service contracts in everything from petrochemicals to off-shore drilling.

Leftists staged protests last month until the government agreed to hold several months of public debates about the oil sector's future.

Senior PRI members have said they like the general look of Calderon's plan, but Paredes said the party's lawmakers need to take a careful look to make sure the bill does not violate a constitutional ban against private companies sharing profits with Pemex.

Mexico is the world's No. 6 producer of crude and a top supplier of the United States, but output is falling because the company has not invested enough in recent decades to find new oil fields.