Mexico Looks to Cut US Gas Dependency
The announcement underscores a growing urgency in Mexico City, where domestic output from conventional gas fields has declined sharply and can no longer satisfy national demand. Mexico currently imports approximately three-quarters of its natural gas supply from the United States, making it Washington's single largest gas customer — a dependency Sheinbaum warned is unsustainable.
"If we continue like this, we're going to import more and more natural gas," Sheinbaum said. "The other options are what's called shale gas, unconventional gas."
Unconventional gas refers to reserves locked within dense geological formations such as shale rock, which prevent the fuel from flowing freely and demand more sophisticated extraction methods — most notably hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Mexico's development of such reserves has been largely stalled by a convergence of environmental objections, high water consumption requirements, regulatory ambiguity, and sustained political resistance.
Sheinbaum pointed directly to the Iran war's disruption of global energy markets to justify the strategic pivot.
"What's the problem with importing?" she asked rhetorically. "Just look at how lots of countries in the world are suffering because of what happened in Iran."
Her remarks carry particular weight given the scale of market turbulence triggered by the conflict. Energy and fuel prices have climbed sharply since hostilities broke out in late February, with ongoing disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes — keeping global markets on edge. Oil prices have surged past $100 per barrel amid persistent uncertainty over supply routes and fragile ceasefire negotiations.
MEXICO-US TENSIONS
Sheinbaum's energy pivot comes at a moment of heightened friction between Mexico City and Washington on multiple fronts.
In January, US President Donald Trump raised the possibility of authorizing military strikes against drug cartels operating on Mexican soil — a statement that followed the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US commandos on narcotics trafficking charges. Trump has further alleged that cartels effectively control Mexico and accused the country of deliberately "flooding" the United States with illegal drugs and undocumented migrants.
While Mexico has maintained cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts, Sheinbaum has firmly rejected any notion of foreign military operations within Mexican borders, warning that such action would constitute a direct violation of national sovereignty.
On trade, Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on Mexican imports last year, though subsequent negotiations succeeded in bringing those figures down. The episode nonetheless reinforced the precariousness of the bilateral relationship — and, in the eyes of many analysts, added further impetus to Sheinbaum's push for greater energy self-sufficiency.
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