TPT September 2007

From the AmericaS

• Strong market demand for plate products has prompted Mittal Steel USA (Chicago) to schedule for September a restart of its idled 160" plate mill in Gary, Indiana. The mill, which underwent a major modernization in 1990, has capability for production in lengths to 1,500". CEO Shelby Pixley, of Mittal Plate USA, said, “Plate demand has grown significantly for large-diameter line pipe, wind towers, transmission towers, and tank cars.” Elsewhere in energy . . . › The Spanish power company Iberdrola plans to buy Energy East Corp (New Gloucester, Maine) for $4.5 billion in cash, representing a 27 per cent premium over the value of the stock in the regional utility owner. Iberdrola, based in Bilbao, said in Madrid on June 25 that the purchase fits its strategy for international expansion. Energy East owns utilities in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. The deal is expected to close next year.

South American countries and 25 per cent for developed countries. In an effort to raise the country’s tax collection rate to offset future declines in oil revenue, President Felipe Calderón presented a tax package to Congress that would close loopholes used by businesses to reduce their taxes. Under the proposed measure, companies would be taxed at the higher of two rates: the current corporate income tax of 28 per cent or a new flat tax of 19 per cent, assessed on sales after cost deductions for raw materials and investment. The tax measures, to be phased in throughout Mr Calderón’s term in office, would raise receipts by an additional three percentage points of GDP. But the Mexican Congress was not set to reconvene until September, and it was unclear whether a special session would be called to take up the tax-reform proposal put forward on June 20. The Mexican government has made up for its tax shortfall by heavily taxing the state oil monopoly Petróleos Mexicanos, which last year financed 40 per cent of government spending. Starved for investment money, Pemex now faces stagnant production and declining oil reserves. ConocoPhillips chief calls for incentives for infrastructure investment by Big Oil On the eve of a deadline to accept or refuse terms offered by Venezuela, the American oil companies Exxon Mobil and

Oil and Gas

Mexico seeks to ease the tax strain on its oil monopoly Pemex Mexico collects less than 11 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in taxes, well below the average of about 16 per cent for

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S eptember /O ctober 2007