Mexico's Pemex has confirmed that it is in discussions with Slim regarding Ixachi investments.

Claudia Sheinbaum, president of the Mexican Energy Company Pemex, said that Pemex was in discussions with Carlos Slim's companies about an investment into Ixachi, Mexico's largest natural gas field.

Last week, it was revealed that officials from Pemex's and Slim’s companies were considering an alleged mixed contract for Ixachi field in Veracruz and a joint operation agreement for deepwater Zama in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sheinbaum, when asked about future participation in her press conference, said: "We are discussing it with the companies that Slim owns."

Sheinbaum said that GrupoCarso, which is one of Slim’s companies, was already involved with some aspects of Ixachi’s operation. It currently drills deep wells.

Sources have said that mixed contracts would be used in Ixachi. They are a form of partnership between Pemex, and private companies.

Pemex can work with private firms to complement its expertise and capital while still maintaining ownership of the resources.

Pemex, which is cash-strapped, struggles to reach its crude oil production goal of 1.8million barrels per day. This is because fields are depleting, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. New discoveries cannot compensate.

Ixachi is the biggest discovery in Mexico's quest to be energy self-sufficient.

About two-thirds (mostly via pipelines) of the gas imported locally is imported from its northern neighbor.

RBN Energy is a market advisor service that wrote in a note recently that U.S. Imports, mainly from the Permian or Eagle Ford, had increased by threefold over the last decade.

It noted that Mexico's production had declined rapidly and that much of it was considered unusable due to its high nitrogen content. Reporting by Adriana Barera; Editing and proofreading by Stefanie Eschenbacher, Richard Chang

(source: Reuters)