Category: Mexico

Petroleos Mexicanos , the crude producer that accounts for about a third of state revenue in Mexico, said it pays taxes on oil production volume that’s inflated by water and other measurement inaccuracies. Under existing law, the company known as Pemex pays some taxes based on reported volume at the wellhead, it said by e-mail yesterday. In the statement, Pemex cut its year-to-date production to 2.34 million barrels a day from a previously reported 2.47 million. Output was overstated because of water content and inefficient measuring and separation systems. “The water content and measurement distortions have increased the fiscal burden on Pemex,” the Mexico City-based company said in the statement. Facing a 10th straight year of production declines, Pemex said output at the end of the year would be about 2.35 million barrels a day. That’s the second revision in a month after Exploration and Production Director Gustavo Hernandez […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Mexican state Pemex has revised its annual production target for the year to 2.35 million b/d from 2.44 million b/d, its lowest level for three decades, the oil and natural gas monopoly said Friday. January-through-July production data has been reduced by 126,000 b/d, or 5%, because of miscalculations by antiquated measuring equipment, Pemex said. Water had been counted as oil in the calculations, it added. –Ronald Buchanan, [email protected] –Edited by Richard Rubin, [email protected]

Click here to view full article at www.platts.com

Petroleos Mexicanos , facing a 10th straight year of production declines , is including water in its oil output and may revise previously reported data, according to a company official briefed on the matter. A record gap this year between reported output and what the state-owned company processes is partly explained by measuring systems at older fields that are unable to differentiate water-heavy oil from actual crude, the official said, asking not to be named as Pemex debates reducing figures for the past three years or more. Last month, the company cut its 2014 output forecast to 2.44 million barrels a day. Pemex, which is preparing to form partnerships with private producers for the first time in seven decades, produced 2.48 million barrels a day through June, while its distribution system processed 2.32 million barrels a day, according to the National Hydrocarbons Commission . The commission didn’t give a […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Workers perform maintenance on the Laurus oil-drilling rig operated by Petroleos Mexicans (Pemex) at Campeche Bay off the coast of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, earlier this month. Bloomberg News MEXICO CITY—Mexico on Wednesday set aside the bulk of its currently active oil fields for Petróleos Mexicanos but said private companies will be allowed to bid on four-fifths of prospective resources as the government ends the national oil firm’s seven-decade monopoly. Officials hope that the bidding, starting as soon as next year, will spark an energy boom. Pemex’s chief executive said the new competition will help the company, making it more efficient. "Pemex has been waiting for these changes for decades," CEO Emilio Lozoya said in an interview at its headquarters here. "We’re committed to making sure that Pemex continues to be not only the largest company in Mexico, but to regain the largest spot in Latin America and be […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Petroleos Mexicanos , preparing for the end of its 76-year state oil monopoly, was granted rights to all the proved and probable oil reserves it sought for development as Mexico opens its doors to foreign competition. Pemex, as the state-owned company is known, will maintain 83 percent of the country’s so-called 2p reserves and 21 percent of potential reserves, Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said today in Mexico City. Mexico’s investment in fields will be $50 billion in 2015-2018, he said during a presentation of the non-competitive bidding known as round zero. The opening of Mexico’s energy industry to private investment is considered to be on a scale with the North American Free Trade Agreement in terms of economic significance, Alberto Ramos , chief Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs, said in an Aug. 7 research note. The energy ministry will now prepare for the first round of open […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Mexican lawmakers late Wednesday completed an historic opening of the country’s energy sector to private investors after 76 years of state monopoly, in a move with far-reaching implications for the sector and the country’s economy. Completion of the overhaul is a political victory for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who made it the cornerstone of a reformist agenda intended to improve Mexico’s competitiveness and stimulate economic growth. The victory seemed unthinkable to many when he took office in December 2012. Over the past quarter century, every Mexican president had tried but failed to secure political support to diminish the state energy monopoly. The opening of the energy sector is the culmination of a decades-long effort to liberalize the Mexican economy that began in 1982, when then-President Miguel […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Petroleos Mexicanos cut its output forecast to the lowest in at least 24 years as mature fields are shrinking faster than it had previously expected. The forecast was lowered to 2.41 million barrels of oil a day from a prior projection of 2.5 million, said Gustavo Hernandez, Pemex’s head of exploration and production. This will be the Mexico City-based company’s lowest annual output since at least 1990, when it produced 2.55 million barrels a day, according to the oldest available government output data. “We have been working to review the declines of each of our fields that contribute to national production,” Hernandez said today on an earnings call. “In the recent review, we obtained a better idea of the declines of the fields and have adjusted the production expectation downward.” Pemex is counting on a landmark law enacted last year that opens Mexico’s energy industry to private competition for […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

State-owned oil company Pemex reported a wider second quarter loss hurt by higher sales costs, declining asset values and higher taxes, the company said on Friday. Losses totaled 52.226 billion pesos ($4.02 billion) for the quarter, led by losses at the company’s refining unit, compared to a total loss of 49 billion pesos during the year earlier period. Revenue during the quarter rose 4.1 percent to 409 billion pesos, however, mainly because of higher domestic sales and exports, compared to revenue of 393 billion pesos during the second quarter last year. Sales costs for the quarter rose 13.2 percent, or by 24.4 billion pesos, as a result of preexisting obligations and higher production costs, the company said. "Inside and outside the company, the environment has grown more complex," said Pemex Chief Financial Officer Mario Beauregard in a call with analysts. The company’s tax […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

State-owned oil company Pemex reported a wider second quarter loss hurt by higher sales costs, declining asset values and higher taxes, the company said on Friday. Losses totaled 52.226 billion pesos ($4.02 billion) for the quarter, led by losses at the company’s refining unit, compared to a total loss of 49 billion pesos during the year earlier period. Revenue during the quarter rose 4.1 percent to 409 billion pesos, however, mainly because of higher domestic sales and exports, compared to revenue of 393 billion pesos during the second quarter last year. Sales costs for the quarter rose 13.2 percent, or by 24.4 billion pesos, as a result of preexisting obligations and higher production costs, the company said. "Inside and outside the company, the environment has grown more complex," said Pemex Chief Financial Officer Mario Beauregard in a call with analysts. The company’s tax […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

Mexico’s Senate voted Friday to give Mexican companies a greater role in energy projects under the landmark opening of the country’s oil and gas sectors, tightening the national content rules that President Enrique Peña Nieto had proposed and partly satisfying demands of local industry groups and ruling party members. The Senate set a bar of 25% mandatory Mexican content in each new energy project starting from 2015, progressively increasing that to at least 35% by 2025. President Enrique Peña Nieto’s energy proposal sent to Congress in April required at least 25% by 2025. The new national content rules decided by the Senate, which are widely expected to be ratified by the lower house, are still more attractive for private companies than other major oil producers in the region such as Brazil, and critically exclude deep-water projects, analysts said. The rules for deep waters will be set later by […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

e Oil shale drillers in Texas have had to contend with environmental opposition and soaring costs. A few miles south of the border in Mexico, Angel Torrez and co-workers duck gunfire sprayed from drug traffickers. When gunmen pulled up in April in a makeshift tank and riddled the Hotel Asya with bullets, Torrez dropped to the floor. After the attack, the 21-year-old machine operator for Weatherford International Ltd. and his crew of about 30 left town under police escort. Ciudad Mier, in the gas-rich region along the Texas border known as the Burgos Basin, had already become a ghost town after most of its inhabitants had fled following years of bloodshed. “My girlfriend says she doesn’t want me here,” Torrez said as he rested on a bench outside his new hotel […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Petroleos Mexicanos is looking to strengthen its balance sheet with the sale of a stake in Repsol SA for about $3 billion as Mexico ’s state-owned producer prepares to form partnerships with foreign oil companies. Pemex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, is selling a 7.9 percent stake in Repsol, according to a Citigroup Inc. filing to the Spanish stock exchange yesterday. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) are conducting the sale. The Mexican company is raising cash from the sale as lawmakers prepare regulations to open the oil industry to foreign investment for the first time since 1938. Pemex was “very disappointed” in Repsol’s performance, Chief Executive Officer Emilio Lozoya said in an Oct. 31 interview. “If Pemex is going to be restructured as a new company, it needs a nest egg of capital in its balance sheet,” George Baker, an energy consultant […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Exxon Mobil won the first three oil and gas leases for an area straddling the U.S.-Mexican border in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Interior Department said. Exxon gets access to nearly 1.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department estimates the area, Alaminos Canyon, contains as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The transboundary area was opened by congressional agreement in December. Through it, U.S. companies agree voluntarily to develop the area jointly with Mexican energy company Petroleos Mexicanos. "These leases represent a significant step forward in U.S.-Mexico cooperation in energy production and pave the way for future energy and environmental collaboration," U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a Saturday statement . The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sold the three leases areas in March for a total of […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Over the past decade, Amado Yáñez Osuna gained a reputation throughout Mexico as a highflying CEO with good political ties. He turned up at events with prominent ruling-party members, and lent his private jet to party officials. But then the party lost power. On Thursday, officials arrested Mr. Yáñez and charged him with violating banking laws. Authorities say his company, oil services firm Oceanografía, defrauded Banamex, the Mexican unit of U.S. banking giant Citigroup , of about $400 million. Citigroup has already fired 12 employees in Mexico for failing to detect the alleged fraud, which was tied to alleged fake documents from state-owned oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. The arrest deepens a scandal that has sent shock waves across Mexico’s political landscape. That […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Source: Mexican national energy ministry SENER, 2013 natural gas market prospectus Note: All pipeline imports are from the United States. Gross imports equal net imports beginning in 2013. Logistical pipeline imports are imports from the United States to regions of northern Mexico that have no access to any other sources of natural gas. PGPB is the natural gas subsidiary of national oil company Pemex. A combination of higher natural gas demand from Mexico’s industrial and electric power sectors and increased U.S. natural gas production has resulted in a doubling of U.S. pipeline exports of natural gas to Mexico between 2009 and 2013. Mexico’s national energy ministry, SENER, projects that U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico will reach 3.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2018. This would be more than double U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico in 2013, which averaged 1.8 Bcf/d . This projected growth is driven mainly […]

Click here to view full article at www.eia.gov

Source: Mexican national energy ministry SENER, 2013 natural gas market prospectus Note: All pipeline imports are from the United States. Gross imports equal net imports beginning in 2013. Logistical pipeline imports are imports from the United States to regions of northern Mexico that have no access to any other sources of natural gas. PGPB is the natural gas subsidiary of national oil company Pemex. A combination of higher natural gas demand from Mexico’s industrial and electric power sectors and increased U.S. natural gas production has resulted in a doubling of U.S. pipeline exports of natural gas to Mexico between 2009 and 2013. Mexico’s national energy ministry, SENER, projects that U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico will reach 3.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2018. This would be more than double U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico in 2013, which averaged 1.8 Bcf/d . This projected growth is driven mainly […]

Click here to view full article at www.eia.gov

Petroleos Mexicanos , the state-owned oil producer, is negotiating with Chinese companies to create a fund valued at as much as $4 billion to invest and finance projects. The proposed arrangement is in a “final stage of negotiations,” Pemex, as the Mexico City-based oil producer is known, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, correcting an earlier filing that said a deal had already been signed. The Sino-Mex Energy Fund would be the largest Chinese investment fund in Latin America , according to the earlier statement sent to the Mexican Stock Exchange. The prospective agreement between Pemex’s international unit PMI Comercio Internacional and Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes (000778) , SPF Capital Hong Kong Ltd. and other Chinese companies would be used to finance large-scale projects and create jobs. Pemex is seeking to increase sales to Asia and Europe to offset falling oil exports to the U.S., Mexico’s largest crude buyer. […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Though it’s still the third-largest source of foreign crude, imports from Mexico are at their lowest levels in a decade, the U.S. Energy Department said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said the United States imported 850,000 barrels of oil per day from Mexico last year, the lowest level since 1993. The trend has developed in part as a result of increased production from shale reserves areas in the United States. Coupled with declines in Mexican oil production and exports to the United States are down 47 percent from 1993, EIA said. On the other hand, increased U.S. oil production means exports of petroleum products to the Mexican market have increased 152 percent in the same period and most of that has been in the form of motor gasoline. The Mexican government in December enacted legislation that ends the 75-year […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

In late 2013, Mexico’s congress approved historic legislation that altered the 1938 ban on private sector participation in the Mexican energy sector. These reforms, that end the 75-year monopoly of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and allow for greater foreign investment, are the first to include constitutional change, and promise to address many of the challenges that have resulted in a decade-long decline in Mexico’s oil production. Last year, Mexico produced 2.90 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of total liquids, continuing the decline from its peak of 3.85 million bbl/d in 2004. Crude oil is the most significant component of Mexico’s liquid fuels production, accounting for at least 85% of production in the past two decades. Preliminary estimates indicate April 2014 production of crude oil was about 2.5 million bbl/d, the lowest monthly average since 1995. The new reforms include the following: Create four oil and […]

Click here to view full article at www.eia.gov

Mexico has become a net importer of petroleum products in its trade with the U.S. for the first time in at least 40 years, a significant industrial shift for a country that has long been proud of its status as one of the world’s top crude-oil exporters. Mexico still exports more than a million barrels a day of crude oil, but it imports just about everything else: natural gas, gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, and petrochemicals. In the first three months of the year, the country posted a petroleum deficit of about $551 million with the U.S., according to recent Bank of Mexico data. The newfound dominance of the U.S. energy sector is relevant for a country that has long been proud of its status as a "petroleum nation," after former President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the industry in 1938. The shift comes partly from the U.S. energy boom […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexican officials said Monday they expect to open bidding on the first round of private oil contracts in the first half of 2015. A constitutional reform passed last year opened the state-owned energy sector to private investment. But enabling legislation is still before congress. Assistant Energy Secretary Lourdes Melgar said the first round of bidding is expected to offer a range of onshore, offshore and deep water fields. Melgar said Mexico hopes to have private companies producing a half million barrels of oil a day by 2018, while state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos should maintain production at about 2.5 million barrels a day. Mexican tax authorities said they expect government revenue, on average, to be about 50 percent of production value from private projects operated under contract, license or concession. Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, will have first choice of which fields to develop. Those […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Mexico expects an increase in crude-oil production in the next few years to come primarily from the reactivation of mature oil fields, which would be included along with other types of deposits in the first rounds of bidding involving private companies. "Additional production will come for example from mature oil fields…fields that were producing in the 1930s and that could be exploited with new technology to increase production quickly," Lourdes Melgar, deputy minister for hydrocarbons at the Energy Ministry, said Tuesday at a meeting with reporters. The attraction of new, latest-generation technology is one of the central goals behind a historic energy overhaul promoted by President Enrique Peña Nieto that opens the oil and gas industry to competition, ending the monopoly of state company Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and allowing private firms to exploit the country’s resources for the first time in 76 years. Last week, Mr. Peña […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexico expects an increase in crude-oil production in the next few years to come primarily from the reactivation of mature oil fields, which would be included along with other types of deposits in the first rounds of bidding involving private companies. "Additional production will come for example from mature oil fields…fields that were producing in the 1930s and that could be exploited with new technology to increase production quickly," Lourdes Melgar, deputy minister for hydrocarbons at the Energy Ministry, said Tuesday at a meeting with reporters. The attraction of new, latest-generation technology is one of the central goals behind a historic energy overhaul promoted by President Enrique Peña Nieto that opens the oil and gas industry to competition, ending the monopoly of state company Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and allowing private firms to exploit the country’s resources for the first time in 76 years. Last week, Mr. Peña […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexico’s government on Wednesday outlined a raft of proposed laws to implement its historic drive to open up its oil and gas industry to competition, including rules that foreign companies will have to include a certain amount of Mexican parts and labor in their work by 2025. The rules set out by the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto were closely watched by the oil industry as a sign of how far the country might be willing to go to attract private investment. Analysts said the rules appeared to be aimed at drawing a large amount of investment quickly and would be positively viewed by most oil companies. The proposals–which were the fine print to sweeping changes to Mexico’s Constitution last December that ended the state monopoly on oil and gas and electricity–will now go to Mexico’s Congress, where they are widely […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexico’s financial health is at risk because of a declining oil sector. WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) — Mexico’s fiscal health is in jeopardy because of a declining rate of oil production, an analysis from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.EIA updated its country profile for Mexico, noting the oil sector accounted for 13 percent of the country’s export earnings last year. Mexico is one of the top 10 oil-producing countries in the world, with an estimated 10 billion barrels of proven reserves as of 2013. EIA said Mexico produced an average 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, a level that’s more than 20 percent less than its peak from 2004-09. "Notably, crude oil production in 2013 was at its lowest since 1995 and continues to decline thus far in 2014," it said in its Thursday report. EIA said the decline in oil production was having a direct […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Mexico plans to build a $1.4 billion "energy corridor" between the Gulf Coast and the Pacific, state energy company Pemex said Thursday, in what appears to be part of a drive to reduce the country’s dependence on the US market. Pemex said the strategy is based on linking the nation’s concentration of oil and gas production on the Gulf Coast with potential markets in Asia, Central and South America. The corridor would run along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec between the Gulf Coast oil and petrochemicals port of Pajaritos and Salina Cruz, the only Mexican oil port on the Pacific Coast. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and […]

Click here to view full article at www.platts.com

;Mexico is seeking to draw up a flexible tax framework for private companies interested in the opening of the country’s oil and gas industry, in a bid to become a competitive option for investors in the North American energy sector. The government and the main conservative opposition are in early talks on a blueprint that completes the historic constitutional changes passed last December. The legislation, which is the cornerstone of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plans to lift economic growth, opens the door for the return of private firms to exploration and production activities in Mexico after a 75-year absence. The tax framework is important because it defines how much money will be paid to private investors for taking exploratory and production risks, and how much will end up in the hands of the state as the original owner of the oil and gas resources. Investors are awaiting the […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Petroleos Mexicanos’ March oil production slid to its lowest monthly level in almost two decades after output declines accelerated at the world’s fifth-largest crude oil producer. Monthly crude production fell to 2.47 million barrels a day through March 30 as output at the company’s largest Ku-Maloob-Zapp and Cantarell fields dropped from the previous month, state-owned Pemex said today in a preliminary report. March was Mexico City-based Pemex’s smallest monthly output since October 1995 when it produced 1.898 million barrels a day. Pemex is banking on a December law change allowing foreign companies to join the energy industry to boost investment and increase national oil production to 3 million daily barrels by 2018, the government has said. The energy overhaul, which President Enrique Pena Nieto called the most important economic change in 50 years, is expected to raise as much as $30 billion a year in foreign investment, according to […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Mexico’s state oil monopoly Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, is aiming to keep more than four-fifths of the country’s proven and probable oil and gas reserves for its own exploitation as the government prepares to open the state-run sector to private and foreign investment for the first time in 75 years. The energy overhaul passed last year by Congress amended the constitution to allow foreign and private companies to explore for and produce oil and gas under profit-sharing and even production-sharing agreements. It marks the first opening of the state-run industry since the 1938 oil expropriation. The changes, however, give Pemex the first choice of projects that it wishes to be assigned directly under a so-called "Round Zero." The Energy Ministry said Monday that it has until Sept. 17 to decide which of the requested projects will be assigned directly to Pemex, taking into account the state company’s technical […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

An event to celebrate the anniversary of the expropriation of Mexico’s oil industry at the Petroleos Mexicanos petrochemical complex in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, Mexico, on March 18, 2014. Close Close Open Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg An event to celebrate the anniversary of the expropriation of Mexico’s oil industry at the Petroleos Mexicanos petrochemical complex in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, Mexico, on March 18, 2014. Mexican companies are racing to be first in line to invest in the country’s energy industry even before lawmakers pass final legislation that would end a 76-year state monopoly. Alfa SAB (ALFAA) , owner of Mexico’s largest petrochemicals producer, sold $1 billion of bonds yesterday to help fund its energy business and refinance debt. State-owned Comision Federal de Electricidad plans to take advantage of the legal changes to sell natural gas, Chief Executive Officer Enrique Ochoa said at the Bloomberg Economic Summit in Mexico City yesterday. […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Shell said Tuesday production began at its Mars B development in the Gulf of Mexico, which should help boost regional production by 66 percent by 2016. Shell said it started production from Mars B using its Olympus platform, which the company said was its largest deep-water platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Olympus is floating in roughly 3,100 feet of water off the coast of Louisiana. Shell said the entire Mars field produced an average 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day last year. With Olympus in place, Mars field production should reach 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2016. John Hollowell, executive vice president for Shell’s deep water operations in the Americas, said in a statement Tuesday the Mars developments showcase Shell’s ongoing commitment to deep-water activity. "Olympus is the latest, successful start-up of our strong portfolio of deep-water projects, which […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

U.S. energy companies will benefit from "abundant opportunities" as a result of Mexico’s energy reforms, a private economic analysis indicated. Mexico’s energy overhaul, approved by Congress last month, ends the monopoly of state-owned Mexican oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, and opens all segments of the energy sector to private firms for the first time in 75 years. A report by financial services firm BBVA Compass, based in Birmingham, Ala.., concluded the investment and new projects expected to flow from Mexico’s energy reforms could mean 2.5 million new jobs in Mexico by 2025. "More jobs in Mexico could potentially reduce illegal immigration," BBVA Compass economist Marcial Nava said in a webinar this week, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nava predicts the reforms will pump about $1.2 trillion to the Texas-Northern Mexico region in the next decade. "If these border towns effectively seize the […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

U.S. energy companies will benefit from "abundant opportunities" as a result of Mexico’s energy reforms, a private economic analysis indicated. Mexico’s energy overhaul, approved by Congress last month, ends the monopoly of state-owned Mexican oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, and opens all segments of the energy sector to private firms for the first time in 75 years. A report by financial services firm BBVA Compass, based in Birmingham, Ala.., concluded the investment and new projects expected to flow from Mexico’s energy reforms could mean 2.5 million new jobs in Mexico by 2025. "More jobs in Mexico could potentially reduce illegal immigration," BBVA Compass economist Marcial Nava said in a webinar this week, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nava predicts the reforms will pump about $1.2 trillion to the Texas-Northern Mexico region in the next decade. "If these border towns effectively seize the […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex has found light crude at its deep water Exploratus-1 well in the Perdido Fold Belt in the Gulf of Mexico, a senior company official said in an interview on Wednesday. Exploratus-1 struck light crude at a depth of approximately 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) below the sea floor, said Carlos Morales, Pemex’s exploration and production chief. Morales said the company does not yet have an estimate of the total amount of crude associated with the find.

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex has found light crude at its deep water Exploratus-1 well in the Perdido Fold Belt in the Gulf of Mexico, a senior company official said in an interview on Wednesday. Exploratus-1 struck light crude at a depth of approximately 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) below the sea floor, said Carlos Morales, Pemex’s exploration and production chief. Morales said the company does not yet have an estimate of the total amount of crude associated with the find.

Click here to view full article at www.reuters.com

Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico ’s state-owned oil company, expects to sign its first exploration and production agreements with international companies as early as year-end after Mexico ended its 75-year monopoly. Pemex, as the state oil company is known, will initially focus on mature and deep-water fields to establish the ventures, Chief Executive Officer Emilio Lozoya said today. Possible associations in the refining, transportation and petrochemical businesses can be done once congress approves the so-called secondary legislation, which is expected in April, he said. “We expect that in exploration and production, by the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015 we achieve the first investments or associations,” Lozoya said today in an interview in Davos during the World Economic Forum . “The quickest way to monetize the investments that Pemex already did in exploration is through joint ventures. This means increasing output and oil income.” President Enrique Pena Nieto ended the […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Oil companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to Chevron Corp. (CVX) will have to wait another two years before investing an estimated $20 billion in Mexico’s recently opened oil and gas industry. Foreign crude producers will be allowed to bid on fields for exploration and begin developing infrastructure and operations as soon as late next year, Deputy Energy Minister Enrique Ochoa said in an interview at the ministry in Mexico City. Prior to granting the operating licenses, the legal framework has to be determined and state oil producer Petroleos Mexicanos must select the fields it plans to continue to develop, he said. “We estimate that by the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016, we could be in the stage of implementation,” Ochoa said. “We must be professional and careful with the necessary institutional development prior to the following rounds.” President Enrique Pena Nieto ended the 75-year production monopoly […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Recent reforms that would open oil exploration and development in Mexico to major oil companies for the first time in decades has the media all atwitter about the prospects of a reversal in declining Mexican oil output and a possible doubling of production. The reforms have brought out comparisons with Brazil which has a similar arrangement in which the country’s state-owned oil company works with major international oil giants to develop Brazil’s petroleum resources. Adding to the frothy atmosphere, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed a partnership between Mexico and Brazil to develop oil resources in both countries. In a world with daily average oil prices hovering near record levels, such news might be welcome if only we could actually count on the accompanying optimistic production forecasts. But, it’s instructive to look at what actually happened in Brazil since the time its […]

Click here to view full article at www.resilience.org

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law Friday a bill that ends the 75-year-old government monopoly in the oil and gas industry, even as the main leftist party is pledging to undo the law by organizing the country’s first-ever referendum. Mr. Peña Nieto became the first president in more than 50 years to propose and pass changes to the constitution on the subject of oil. The last one was Adolfo López Mateos in 1960, and that was to reinforce, rather than weaken, a state monopoly set up in 1938 when former President Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated the oil industry and turned oil into a nationalist symbol of Mexican sovereignty. "This year, we Mexicans have decided to overcome myths and taboos in order to take a large stride toward the future," said Mr. Peña Nieto in a speech at the National Palace. Supporters of the law say it will […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law Friday a bill that ends the 75-year-old government monopoly in the oil and gas industry, even as the main leftist party is pledging to undo the law by organizing the country’s first-ever referendum. Mr. Peña Nieto became the first president in more than 50 years to propose and pass changes to the constitution on the subject of oil. The last one was Adolfo López Mateos in 1960, and that was to reinforce, rather than weaken, a state monopoly set up in 1938 when former President Lázaro Cárdenas expropriated the oil industry and turned oil into a nationalist symbol of Mexican sovereignty. "This year, we Mexicans have decided to overcome myths and taboos in order to take a large stride toward the future," said Mr. Peña Nieto in a speech at the National Palace. Supporters of the law say it will […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law Friday a bill that ends the monopoly of state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos in oil and gas, opening new horizons for private-sector investment in the world’s ninth-largest oil producer. The energy bill, Mr. Peña Nieto’s wager to lift stagnant oil production and unleash economic growth, was passed by lawmakers in just 10 days. Congress gave final approval on Thursday of last week after two days of debates, and a required majority of state legislatures, 26 of the country’s 31, approved the constitutional amendment by this week. "This year, we Mexicans have decided to overcome myths and taboos in order to take a large stride toward the future," Mr. Peña Nieto said in a speech at the National Palace. Mr. Peña Nieto became the first president in more than 50 years to propose and pass in Congress changes to the constitution on the […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed into law Friday a bill that ends the monopoly of state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos in oil and gas, opening new horizons for private-sector investment in the world’s ninth-largest oil producer. The energy bill, Mr. Peña Nieto’s wager to lift stagnant oil production and unleash economic growth, was passed by lawmakers in just 10 days. Congress gave final approval on Thursday of last week after two days of debates, and a required majority of state legislatures, 26 of the country’s 31, approved the constitutional amendment by this week. "This year, we Mexicans have decided to overcome myths and taboos in order to take a large stride toward the future," Mr. Peña Nieto said in a speech at the National Palace. Mr. Peña Nieto became the first president in more than 50 years to propose and pass in Congress changes to the constitution on the […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Eric Milito, a director at the American Petroleum Institute, said the nod for an energy agreement with Mexico transforms the regional offshore energy sector. "American companies will now have the certainty they need to invest confidently along our maritime border with Mexico," he said in a statement Wednesday. A budget deal passed by U.S. lawmakers this week included consent for the Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement between the United States and Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department estimates the transboundary region in the Gulf of Mexico holds as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas. "The energy production made possible by this agreement will put Americans to work and raise more revenue for the government," Milito said. API said as much as $51 billion in potential revenue could be generated from expanded work in the Gulf of Mexico. The […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Asian energy groups are looking at opportunities in Mexico following a decision to break Petróleos Mexicanos’s oil and gas monopoly, but they could face tough competition from Western rivals for the right to exploit the country’s huge and lightly developed reserves. Mexico’s relatively stable political environment and geographic proximity to the U.S. could attract investors from there, including companies that have been selling stakes in Asian and African energy projects to focus on exploiting shale gas and oil opportunities nearer to home. Attractive Mexico projects could also interest European companies such as Spain’s Repsol SA, REP.MC -0.77% Repsol S.A. Spain: Madrid € 18.11 -0.14 -0.77% Dec. 17, 2013 10:08 am Volume : 423,036 P/E Ratio 14.61 Market Cap €23.45 Billion Dividend Yield 0.44% Rev. per Employee €1,965,150 11/28/13 Repsol Deal With Argentina Was… 11/27/13 Repsol, Argentina Reach Tentat… 11/27/13 Repsol Bonds With Argentina More quote details […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Asian energy groups are looking at opportunities in Mexico following a decision to break Petróleos Mexicanos’s oil and gas monopoly, but they could face tough competition from Western rivals for the right to exploit the country’s huge and lightly developed reserves. Mexico’s relatively stable political environment and geographic proximity to the U.S. could attract investors from there, including companies that have been selling stakes in Asian and African energy projects to focus on exploiting shale gas and oil opportunities nearer to home. Attractive Mexico projects could also interest European companies such as Spain’s Repsol SA, REP.MC -0.77% Repsol S.A. Spain: Madrid € 18.11 -0.14 -0.77% Dec. 17, 2013 10:08 am Volume : 423,036 P/E Ratio 14.61 Market Cap €23.45 Billion Dividend Yield 0.44% Rev. per Employee €1,965,150 11/28/13 Repsol Deal With Argentina Was… 11/27/13 Repsol, Argentina Reach Tentat… 11/27/13 Repsol Bonds With Argentina More quote details […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

A majority of Mexican state legislatures have approved changes in the constitution that open the country’s state-run energy industry to greater private investment and end a 75-year-old monopoly of state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos. Early Monday, San Luis Potosí became the 17th state to vote in favor of the bill, which amends the constitution to allow for private firms to explore for and produce oil and gas for the first time since the 1938 expropriation of the industry. Constitutional amendments in Mexico require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate and lower house, and approval by a majority of the 31 state legislatures. Last week, the Senate and the lower house of Congress approved the changes, which amend the three constitutional articles that formed the core of the country’s restrictive energy laws. With the necessary state approvals, the Congress can declare the changes constitutional and send the bill […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Mexico’s bill that ends a 75-year state oil monopoly will be sent to President Enrique Pena Nieto for enactment after a majority of states ratified the proposal. San Luis Potosi, Puebla and Yucatan were among states that approved the legislation over the weekend, bringing the number of those that have endorsed the plan to 17 of 31. Mexico’s most significant economic overhaul since the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted in 1994 had been approved by Congress on Dec. 12. The bill ends the monopoly held by Petroleos Mexicanos , or Pemex, and will allow companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) to develop the largest unexplored crude area after the Arctic Circle. The changes could bring an additional $20 billion in foreign direct investment and strengthen the peso, according to Carlos Capistran, chief Mexico economist at Bank of America Corp. The passage of […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com