BOCA DEL RIO, Mexico, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The Mexican state-owned oil monopoly, Petroleos Mexicanos, is preparing to allow foreign oil companies to share production, La Jornada reported Wednesday.
During a petroleum technology conference this week in the Mexican state of Veracruz, Carlos Morales Gil, the director general of the Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, subsidiary Pemex Exploration and Production, said trans-nationals, including Shell, Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, Chevron-Texaco, Unocal, Statoil, Repsol, and Petrobras, could assist Pemex in developing its deep oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.
Morales Gil admitted Pemex has scarcely any of the technology necessary to develop the new reserves that were discovered last year. He did not detail how many oil wells might be offered for foreign companies to develop.
"It will all depend on how we can advance structural reforms," Morales Gil said, referring to pending legislation in the Mexican Congress to reform a law that excludes foreign oil companies from participating in Mexican oil production.
