Pemex Sees European Oil Cos Interested in Mexican Service Contracts

MADRID (Dow Jones Newswires), Jun. 24, 2009

European oil majors and oil service companies are interested in working in Mexico under new service contracts, the head of the Spanish unit of Mexican state-oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday.

"Mexico is one of the [oil] regions with a great potential," Raul Cardoso, chief executive at Pemex Internacional Espana, said at a seminar. "All companies are considering entering the country, the majors, and the smaller ones. Oil service companies also see great possibilities."

Mexico, in the wake of a recent energy reform, is drafting incentive-based service contracts, in the hope of involving oil majors in the development of new reserves in areas where Pemex lacks expertise, such as deepwater drilling.

Seeking oil in deepwaters is one of the priorities of the government, but exploration there is costly and Pemex has neither the experience, nor the technology for it, Cardoso said.

Pemex has been in contact with companies such as Spanish oil firm Repsol YPF SA, Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA, and Norway's StatoilHydro ASA over deepwater drilling, he added.

The Mexican state-oil firm sees a great potential in Gulf of Mexico areas bordering waters of the U.S., where international oil companies already have made major discoveries, Cardoso said.  

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