On a sweltering day in August, Claudia Sheinbaum appeared with her mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to inaugurate one of the costliest infrastructure projects in Mexico’s history: a $16 billion oil refinery.
The sprawling complex in Mr. López Obrador’s home state, Tabasco, forms the capstone of an energy strategy that he will bequeath to Ms. Sheinbaum, a climate scientist, when she takes the presidency in October.
Mexico’s oil production tumbled to a 45-year low this year, one of the steepest output declines anywhere in the world this century.
Blackouts plagued the country after Mr. López Obrador heaped scorn on wind farms that could help satisfy electricity demand.
Natural gas imports for the strained grid are soaring, making energy independence an ever more distant dream.
Persons:
Claudia Sheinbaum, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López, Sheinbaum, López Obrador
Locations:
Tabasco, Mexico