ABSTRACT
The Tampico-Nautla area, site of much of Mexico's oil boom of the early 1920s, includes the old fields near Tuxpan and Poza Rica. Mexico's oil bonanza centers in the southeastern states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and in the Continental Shelf off the state of Campeche. In terms of both reserves and production, the growth of the Mexican petroleum industry has been spectacular. The Mexican Petroleum Institute includes five divisions: engineering, petrochemical and refining, training, exports, and exploration. With the creation of the Energetics Commission in 1973, the idea of a comprehensive approach to energy policy began to take hold of Mexican government officials. The Mexican government has shown an affinity with planning, as a means to bring cohesiveness and a common purpose to the process of development. According with this trend, on April 15, 1980, President Lopez Portillo promulgated the "Global Plan for Development, 1980-1982," as a stage towards the creation of a "National System of Planning."
