The
Mexican government has granted national oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos
(Pemex) the rights to 83% of the country's proven and probable oil
reserves, as part of a broad overhaul.
But
Pemex will only get 21% of possible reserves, less than it had asked
for.
Those
are the areas where oil has not yet been discovered and which will
require a greater degree of investment and exploration to fully
exploit.
Mexico
enacted new rules this week to open up the country's energy sector.
Private
oil companies are now
allowed to operate in the country for the first
time in 76 years.
The
next round of bidding will see private oil firms vie for the
remaining 79% of possible reserves.
Joint
ventures
The
BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City says the announcement is good news
for the likes of Exxon Mobil from the United States, the Anglo-Dutch
multinational Royal Dutch Shell and the Russian firm Lukoil, which
are all said to be interested in the auction of Mexican oil contracts
due to be completed by June 2015
In
the end, it seems that both sides can be reasonably happy with the
outcome, our correspondent adds.
The
director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya, said the company intended to set up
10 different joint ventures with the private firms, among them plans
for deep-water drilling.
President
Enrique Pena Nieto has made energy reform a key goal of his
administration.
His
government said it hoped to receive about $50bn (£30bn) in
investment over the next three years as a result of the new rules
opening the sector.
The
hope is that the changes in the energy sector will boost production
back to 2004 levels by 2025.
Crumbling
infrastructure, bureaucracy and corruption have pared Mexican
production from 3.6 million barrels a day in 2004 to just 2.5
million.
Mexico's
state ownership of its natural resources has been enshrined in the
constitution since the late 1930s.
The
government had to get a constitutional amendment through parliament
last year before a protracted process of secondary laws could begin.
BBC
Business
No comments:
Post a Comment