Pemex to Compete in Mexico's First Two Oil Tenders

Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex plans to take part in the first two public tenders of the so-called Round One opening of the country's oil and gas industry, a senior executive said on Thursday.

 

Mexico has already announced terms and conditions for the first phase of the sector opening, which follows a reform finalized last year that ended Pemex's 75-year-old oil and gas monopoly in a bid to attract more private investment.

 

Gustavo Hernandez, Pemex's head of exploration and production, said the firm would take part in the "first two tenders" - one for 14 production and exploration areas and the second for five contracts spread over nine production fields.

 

"A lot of companies have approached Pemex because we have knowledge of the shallow water basin with more than 40 years of exploration and 35 years of production," Hernandez told reporters after an event in Mexico City.

 

Mexico has opened the oil and gas industry in a bid to end a decade-long slide in production. But the reform has been blunted by the sharp decline in crude prices in recent months.