Monday, March 31, 2025

Energy Reform News

Mexican tycoon Slim targets two of Pemex’s key fields to gain clout within the energy sector

Sources familiar with the matter say that the Mexican state energy company Pemex has been in contact with Carlos Slim, and the billionaire could be asked to help fund two of the most promising crude oil fields and natural gas deposits in the country. These negotiations, which were not previously reported, show Slim's increasing influence in Mexico's energy sector. His business empire, which includes telecommunications and banking, retail, insurance, and hospitality, is expanding.

CERAWEEK - Venezuela's opposition drafts an energy reform to increase foreign pressure on Maduro

According to sources, the Venezuelan opposition has developed a proposal that allows international companies to participate in energy reforms. This is a bid to gain support from Big Oil, and President Donald Trump’s administration. This month, Trump's administration canceled an important license for U.S. Oil Major Chevron to work in Venezuela citing President Nicolas Maduro’s lack of electoral Reforms. The opposition leaders took advantage of the situation to increase pressure on Maduro.

Venezuela's opposition drafts an energy reform in order to increase foreign pressure on Maduro

According to sources, and according to a summary seen by the. Opposition leaders see the re-election Donald Trump as a chance to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. This month, Trump's administration canceled an important license for U.S. Oil Major Chevron in Venezuela, citing the lack of electoral reforms by President Nicolas Maduro. The reform of Venezuela's hydrocarbon laws may appeal to oil companies from around the world, including those based in the United States.

Mexico advances energy reform to reinforce dominant roles of state-owned companies

Mexico's Senate passed on Wednesday laws for an energy reform which strengthens the dominance of state-owned companies Pemex CFE, while opening up new opportunities for private investment in order to achieve the country's goals of self-sufficiency. The new laws, which received 85 votes for them, 39 against them and one abstention will be sent now to the lower chamber of Congress. It is expected that they will receive final approval. If the bill is passed, Pemex will be given more freedom to work with private firms in various investment schemes.

Pemex CEO: Buyers of Mexican crude oil complain about salt and water content

The CEO of the state energy company Pemex, Victor Rodriguez, said that buyers have complained about the water and salt content in Mexico's crude oil over the last month. When asked by a journalist during her morning press conference if some platforms produced crude oil with higher than usual salt and water contents, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged this but said that it was only temporary. She said, "We do not have problems with Pemex or oil production. Rodriguez, who spoke with Energy Minister Luz E.

Reforms to the Mexican oil company Pemex will give it more flexibility in forming partnerships

A bill that was sent to Congress Wednesday will allow Pemex, the state-owned Mexican oil company, to work with private companies. This will ease restrictions imposed by the previous administration. The bill is expected to be passed by a large margin. Pemex can then enter into exploration and extraction contracts with private companies, after these contracts were canceled by the former president Andres Manuel Obrador. In August, just before Lopez Obrador’s successor Claudia Sheinbaum assumed office in October of that year…

Document shows that Mexico's Pemex plans to increase its gas and oil reserves under Sheinbaum's presidency.

According to a document that was seen by us on Wednesday, the Mexican state oil company Pemex wants to increase its hydrocarbon reserve and make sure it is repaid during the tenure of newly-elected President Claudia Sheinbaum. The document also shows that Pemex will intensify its deepwater exploration as well as develop new business models in order to attract investors. Pemex, under the administration of Sheinbaum’s predecessor Andres Manuel López Obrador for six years…

Sources say that the incoming Mexican government wants to open Pemex up to oil partnerships.

According to four sources with knowledge of the situation, the incoming Mexican government will encourage the state oil company Pemex, to form equity partnerships with private oil firms, a model that is not popular with the president. This move is to increase reserves in the face of a massive debt. These partnerships will be similar to previous Pemex joint-ventures with private oil companies, known as "farm-outs", that Mexico pursued via an energy reform implemented a decade earlier.

Oil Companies Swap Stakes in Mexico

© somartin / Adobe Stock

With Mexico's government insisting that energy companies increase oil and gas output before it auctions off more of the country's vast reserves or offers more partnerships with state-run Pemex, firms ranging from foreign majors to local players are scrambling to buy and sell blocks they already own.The negotiations are creating a dynamic secondary market for oil acreage, which could be the only investment opportunity left for firms until leftist President…

Bad Choices cost Pemex $1 bln

Mexico's state-oil company Pemex burned through $665 million at its fertilizer unit, ignored consultants and made high-risk investments with no discernible business strategy, according to a devastating government audit of its 2017 operations.The report, published late on Wednesday, offers insight into how Pemex ended up creaking under $106 billion of debt during the six-year term of former President Enrique Pena Nieto.Mexico's Federal Audit Office (ASF) used unusually frank language in its assessment of Pemex's use of public resources…

Mexico Must Boost Oil Exploration to Halt Output Fall -Pemex

Mexico will need to double to about $4 billion its annual oil exploration investment to reverse a 14-year decline in output, a move that will require more funding by Pemex and private producers, a top official with the state-run firm said Friday.The nation's oil industry needs Petroleos Mexicanos to invest more than $2.5 billion per year and another $1 billion to $1.5 billion from private companies to fully replace its reserves, Jose Antonio Escalera, the firm's chief of exploration…

As Mexico Oil Sector Sputters, Crime and Violence Rattle Industry Towns

Until recently, Edgar Barrera enjoyed a life many Mexicans could only hope for. In a few short years, the 36-year-old bookkeeper rose from handyman to white-collar worker at what seemed to be one of the most stable companies in Latin America: state-owned oil firm Pemex. Thanks to Pemex, Barrera met his wife, vacationed on the Mayan Riviera and envisaged a rewarding career without leaving his hometown in Tabasco, a rural state at the southern hook of the Gulf of Mexico where more than half the population lives on less than roughly $92 a month.

Statoil Eyes Future Projects with Pemex

Norway's Statoil will evaluate new offshore projects in Mexico, including potential tie-ups with state oil company Pemex, the firm's top executive said, adding that a first deepwater well in an existing Gulf project will likely be drilled next year. Statoil is focused mostly on future deepwater opportunities in Mexico but does not rule out others, CEO Eldar Saetre said in an interview late on Thursday. The executive, visiting Mexico City with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, said he met with both finance ministry and Pemex officials.

Mexican Presidential Front-Runner Eyes Pemex Reforms

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist leading the race to win Mexico's presidency in July, will root out corruption at Pemex and also aims to slim down the state-owned oil and gas company, his pick for finance minister said on Thursday. In an interview with Reuters, Carlos Urzua, a respected economist trained at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Lopez Obrador was not resolved to end oil and gas auctions started under the current government, but Urzua said major financial investors he had met with were worried about the energy reform.

Mexican President Defends Energy Reform from Leftist Attacks

© Lukasz Z / Adobe Stock

Mexico's president on Thursday defended his decision to open the energy sector against attacks from the man currently favorite to succeed him, saying a rollback of the measure could cost the country billions of dollars in lost investment. The 2013-14 legislative overhaul that ended state oil firm Pemex's decades-long monopoly was the centerpiece of President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic agenda, and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is leading polls for the July 1 presidential election, has threatened to unpick it.

Pemex Seeks Offshore Deepwater Partners

Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex plans to reach out to existing partners to form new joint ventures for a pair of deepwater blocks it won in a January auction, the company's chief told Reuters on Monday. Pemex is running out of time to find partners for key oil and gas projects as the government looks to show progress from its energy agenda ahead of a July presidential election. The oil company is relying on foreign capital to reverse declining output and refining amid an ambitious energy reform.

Long wait Ends for Big Oil as Mexico Auctions Prized Blocks

Mexico will on Wednesday offer foreign energy firms the right to drill beneath prized deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico that may contain billions of barrels of oil, the climax of an historic energy reform just five months before a presidential election. The auction of 29 blocks is the biggest since the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto enacted a wide-ranging reform that aimed to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to turn around a state-run oil industry in decline.

Mexico's Oil Reform a Boon for Hard-hit Oil Service, Seismic Firms

© flyingrussian / Adobe Stock

Oil service and mapping firms still emerging from an industry recession have received a boost from about $800 million of data sales to energy firms considering bidding for Mexican oil and gas blocks. Mexico will on Wednesday hold its most important auction since a 2013 reform ended the 75-year monopoly on the energy sector held by state-run oil firm Pemex. The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto hopes the deepwater sale will attract tens of billions of dollars of investment to turnaround a slump in the country's oil output.

Trafigura Wins Mexico Crude Trading Contract

Mexico's oil regulator said on Thursday it had assigned trader Trafigura a three-year contract to commercialize crude oil the government obtains from the new scheme of contracts derived from an energy reform. Until now, PMI, the commercial arm of Mexican state oil firm Pemex, has been the only company that commercializes the government's hydrocarbons. But the 2014 energy reform mandated that, starting next year, companies should compete to commercialize the oil and gas that the state obtains under new production-sharing contracts.

Mexico's Energy Sector Faces Deepwater Auction Test

An auction of deepwater oil and gas fields in Mexico this month may prove the last major opportunity for President Enrique Pena Nieto's government to capitalize on its opening of the energy sector, the central plank of its economic agenda. The Jan. 31 tender of licenses to explore and drill in 29 blocks in the Gulf of Mexico is the biggest chunk of oil and gas wealth on offer since the completion of a 2013-14 legislative overhaul that ended state oil firm Pemex's decades-long monopoly.

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