Mexico’s Incoming President Presses Big Oil To Start Pumping From Recent Finds

Mexico wants Big Oil to start producing from the recently discovered oil fields in Mexico as soon as possible, incoming President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told foreign executives at a recent meeting, Reuters reported on Tuesday, quoting sources and executives who attended the meeting.

In this first meeting with major international oil companies operating in Mexico, however, the president-elect didn’t give any indication whether new oil blocks will be offered and oil tenders held, according to attendees who spoke to Reuters.

Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto opened up the energy sector to foreign investment in 2013, ending 70 years of state monopoly. Since then, Mexico has held several successful auctions that have attracted oil majors to its oil and gas exploration industry.

However, incoming president López Obrador, who takes office in December, has been critical of the energy reform and has vowed to review the contracts that foreign firms have already signed with Mexico.

In July, Mexico’s energy regulator postponed two oil auctions that were set for September and October to February 2019, after López Obrador takes office this December. Then in August, reports emerged that the incoming administration was thinking of indefinitely halting competitive tenders for oil and gas in Mexico.

Last month, the incoming administration began the review process for a contract with a consortium led by U.S. Talos Energy.

Talos Energy’s chief executive Tim Duncan was one of the executives who met with López Obrador at the first meeting with foreign oil firms at the end of September.

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“We know we have to exceed expectations and we’re trying to make sure we do that,” Duncan told Reuters.

López Obrador wants to reverse a decline in Mexico’s oil production as many oil fields are maturing. Mexico’s current oil production stands at about 1.84 million bpd, of which 60 percent is exported.

López Obrador signaled at the meeting that he would put around 20 currently idle drilling rigs of Mexican oil service firms to work for state energy firm Pemex, three executives who attended the meeting told Reuters.

The incoming president still needs to show that he is on board with foreign investments and still needs to hold tenders if he is to meet his goal of reversing the slide in production.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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