Over the past decade, Mexico’s crude oil production has been falling due to a natural decline at mature fields and a lack of significant start-ups to compensate. Over the past years, Mexico has opened its energy sector to private investment, ending a seven-decade monopoly of its state oil firm Pemex. Last year, Pemex’s crude oil production dropped, again. OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) expect Mexico’s production to continue to fall this year. But last year was also a year of two very significant oil discoveries in Mexico — a huge offshore discovery by private companies, a first in 80 years, and a large onshore discovery by Pemex. With its landmark energy reform from 2013, Mexico now hopes to attract a growing number of international companies to explore its offshore waters in a bid to offset declining production and fill state coffers with potential royalties. On January 31, […]