Free Republic

On August 14 the Obama Administration announced that the Commerce Department would approve applications to export up to 100,000 barrels of light crude per day to Mexico in a swap arrangement for an equivalent volume of heavy crude from Mexico. This type of export has previously been available between The US and Canada, and perhaps indicates willingness to eventually repeal the crude export ban. Here’s a quick little recap and analysis of the situation. WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL? After the 1975 oil shock, The United States banned the export of crude oil in order to stabilize the price....

Mexican state oil company Pemex announced five new shallow­water discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico in what it said was its biggest exploration success in five years. Emilio Lozoya, Pemex chief, made the announcement at the inauguration of a national oil and gas conference one month before Mexico’s historic first oil and gas tender. The July 15 auction, of 14 shallow­water exploration blocks in the same area as the new discoveries, is expected to signal the start of billions of dollars in private investment flowing into the sector. “The certain prospect of 200,000 extra barrels of production is very good...

The United States is edging towards an historic agreement to swap crude oil with Mexico. The deal is important as it brings some relief to US producers struggling with a light oil glut at home and for Mexican national oil company, Pemex, which is hoping to mix the lighter crude coming out of US shale fields with its heavier blend. However, the arrangement is not just about the relationship between the US and Mexico. It’s also about broader North American energy integration. And critically, many experts see the deal as another crack in the US crude oil export ban. The...

Wednesday morning, social network users reported a fire on the dwelling platform Abkatun Alfa located in Mexico's oil-rich Bay of Campeche. According to local media reports, the Abkatun Alpha is a dwelling platform purposed for housing personnel working offshore in the Bay of Campeche. Early reports also indicate it is owned by a private firm subcontracted by Pemex. Preliminary information indicates a failure in operation processes caused the fire. The incident prompted the evacuation of the platform. Some injuries were also reported. The injured were transported via helicopter from the rig to hospitals in Ciudad del Carmen. One death, 48...

Mexico’s state-owned oil company acknowledges that pipeline thefts have gotten so bad they’re causing gasoline shortages in some states. The Pemex oil company says thieves repeatedly drilled illegal taps into pipelines carrying gasoline from refineries to distribution centers in north-central Mexico.... Thieves drilled around 2,500 illegal taps in the first nine months of 2104, and stole more than $1 billion in fuel.

Over 10,000 workers at Mexican oil services companies were laid off this week as state-run Pemex cut contracts in response to the global decline in oil prices- and more job cuts are expected. Most of the oil services companies affected are headquartered in Ciudad del Carmen, on the Bay of Campeche coast in the GOM, and were informed this week that their contracts with Pemex would not be renewed. Bloomberg quoted Gonzalo Hernandez, secretary at the Ciudad del Carmen Economic Development Chamber, as saying that job losses could increase to 50,000. Meanwhile, Managing director of Xperto Offshore, Stuart Hill, told...

Mexican state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos said Thursday it has requested permission from the U.S. Commerce Department to import light crude to Mexico from the U.S., with the aim of improving output at its Mexican refineries. The significant increase of light crude production in the U.S. presents an opportunity to mix that oil with Mexican heavy crude, and thus boost refining efficiency in Mexico, the company known as Pemex said. Pemex anticipates that it could import up to 100,000 barrels a day of light crude and condensates under the proposal, which it calls a “swap.” America has a long-standing ban...

State-owned, Mexican oil company Petróleos Mexicanos reported a stiff loss and declining production in the third quarter of 2014, as Mexico nears a historic transition to an open energy industry. Pemex said it lost 59.8 billion pesos or $4.4 billion during the July to September period, compared with a year earlier loss of 39.2 billion pesos or $2.9 billion. The loss was driven by falling oil prices and declining production, among other reasons, executives told investors on a Friday conference call. Pemex said it pumped an average of 2.4 million barrels per day in the most recent quarter, down about...

CIUDAD MIER, Mexico (AP) — Mexico adjusted 75 years of crony-corruption to reform its state-owned oil industry. As it prepares to develop rich Gulf Coast shale fields just south of Brownsville, and attract foreign investors. Brutal "drug" cartels rule Tamaulipas and are stealing billions of dollars' worth of oil from pipelines. Figures released by Petroleos Mexicanos last week show the gangs are have drilled 2,481 taps into the pipelines. Pemex estimates it's lost some 7.5 million barrels worth $1.15 billion. Pemex director Emilio Lozoya (a friend of Eric), called the trend "worrisome."

Mexico overcame 75 years of nationalist pride to reform its flagging, state-owned oil industry. But as it prepares to develop rich shale fields along the Gulf Coast, and attract foreign investors, another challenge awaits: taming the brutal drug cartels that rule the region and are stealing billions of dollars’ worth of oil from pipelines. Figures released by Petroleos Mexicanos last week show the gangs are becoming more prolific and sophisticated. So far this year, thieves across Mexico have drilled 2,481 illegal taps into state-owned pipelines, up more than one-third from the same period of 2013. Pemex estimates it’s lost some...

The Mexican Congress has passed sweeping legislation intended to revitalize the country’s anemic energy industry by opening it to private competition and ending a 75-year state monopoly. After weeks of debate and a constitutional amendment, legislators approved this week the majority of the new laws and are expected to finalize the remaining items in the coming days. The energy overhaul is the most sweeping of a broad set of economic measures promised by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Mexico’s oil and gas industry has been largely left out of the latest oil boom, despite the general consensus that the country...

Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex will launch a $6 billion investment in 2017 aimed at maintaining current levels of production at its once-supergiant Cantarell field over the next decade, a Pemex official said on Tuesday. Discovered in 1976, output from the offshore Cantarell field once supplied over 2 million barrels per day (bpd), or more than half of Mexico's total crude production. But output at the field has fallen more than 80 percent since 2004 to hover around 340,000 barrels per day (bpd). The investment will counteract the natural decline of Cantarell by squeezing out an additional 100,000 bpd per...

To grasp the difficulties Mexico faces in capitalizing on a North American shale boom, just wander into the dusty landscape due south of the U.S. border. On one side of the fence, thousands of wells work around the clock in Texas to produce record volumes of shale oil and gas, transforming towns like Carrizo Springs in a modern-day gold rush. On the other side, violent drug cartels roam above untapped shale riches, leaving behind a trail of blood. The relatively few conventional wells operated by state oil giant Pemex and its contractors close down overnight as a security precaution. But...

The geological marvel known to Texas oilmen as the Eagle Ford Shale Play is buried deep underground, but at night you can see its outline from space in a twinkling arc that sweeps south of San Antonio toward the Rio Grande. The light radiates from thousands of surface-level gas flares and drilling rigs. It is the glow of one of the most extravagant oil bonanzas in American history, the result of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Curving south and west, the lights suddenly go black at Mexico’s border, as if there were nothing on the other...

—If all goes well, drillers responsible for a shale-oil bonanza in Texas will soon cross the southern US border and extend the hydraulic fracturing boom to Mexico. But first the Mexican government, foreign oil companies or some combination of the two will have to neutralize some of the most savage gangsters in the world. Oil and gas were a key subtext of yesterday’s North American summit between Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and US President Barack Obama. Hoping to join the US and Canadian energy boom and invigorate the laggard Mexican economy, Peña has pushed...

If, a handful of years into the future, the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has fallen sharply or zeroed out, the president will deserve all the credit. Mexico’s president, that is. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, no stranger to the tough debate over the nation’s immigration laws, thinks recent legislation passed by Mexico’s Congress, a major priority of President Enrique Pena Nieto, may have set in motion a reversal of the flow of undocumented immigrants northward. In a short time, Perry said in an interview Saturday, undocumented immigrants may be streaming back over the U.S.-Mexico border, headed for...

On the morning of December 12th, Mexico woke up to the sound of fireworks as the country celebrated the festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe. A national holiday, the 12th marks the beginning of the Christmas festivities in Mexico, which will end on the 6th of January with the Dia de los Reyes (Three kings day or Epiphany). But for many in the energy industry, the fireworks and celebrations had a double meaning. The day before, the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies approved a legislative initiative that reforms the country’s energy sector. As expected, the law includes measures to...

The Mexican Senate approved legislation early Wednesday to overhaul the country's energy industry, a historic move that will open the sector to private investment. Lawmakers must still debate some points in the bill that are being challenged by leftist legislators. The bill, which was backed by the President Enrique Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, was approved on a vote of 95-28, Senate spokesmen said. The bill modifies Articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Mexican Constitution in response to the "historic responsibility of turning the energy sector into the lever...

Mexico’s energy sector has been largely sealed off from foreign investment for the better part of a century, but historic legislation, proposed over the weekend, may change that. After months of negotiating behind closed doors, the Senate issued a 295-page reform proposal that goes much further than most had expected in opening Mexico’s oil and gas fields to international investment. “It is groundbreaking,” said Gabriel Salinas, an attorney with Mayer Brown, who has followed the reform debates closely. “It provides what companies will need to go down there and develop Mexico’s resources. I think the bill has everything that Mexico...

Mexico has one of the world’s most notoriously closed-off oil industries. The Mexican constitution makes it illegal for anyone but the state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to even own a barrel of oil. If you’re a farmer in Mexico and oil is discovered underneath your land, not one drop of the black gold is yours — it belongs to the state, to the people. As a result, Pemex is the only game in town. There are no private companies operating oilfields in Mexico, no risk-based production sharing contracts or joint ventures with any international oil companies. This could not...