Thank you President Pena Nieto, it's a start.
La. companies could benefit from Mexicos oil industry proposal
Advocate staff and wire report
August 13, 2013
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is proposing lifting a decades-old ban on private companies investing in that countrys state-run oil industry a move that could open the market to Louisiana-based oil service companies.
Allowing private companies to drill in Mexicos portion of the deepwater Gulf and inland in shale formations would be huge for Louisianas oilfield service companies, said Gifford Briggs, vice president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association.
One of the big problems for Mexico is it has had the availability of resources, but it didnt have the technology to take advantage of those resources, Briggs said.
The industry is a cornerstone of Mexicos national pride thats seen production plummet in recent decades.
The plan outlined Monday proposes profit-sharing with private companies, the most daring gamble yet of Pena Nietos 8-month-old presidency.
His proposal is prohibited by the Mexican constitution, which would have to be changed.
Pena Nietos administration offered virtually no details about how it envisioned private participation in the national oil company, Pemex.
Pena Nieto said private companies would be able to bid for profit-sharing contracts in a number of Pemexs businesses, including refining, petrochemical production and transportation industries familiar to Louisiana companies.
Mexico is already one of Louisianas and its oilfield service industrys biggest trading partners, Briggs said. Letting private companies drill in Mexicos portion of the deepwater Gulf and in inland formations would be good for Mexico, Louisiana and its service companies, he said.
During the first half of the year, Louisianas shipments of petroleum and coal products to Mexico increased by 66.9 percent compared with 2012, according to the World Trade Center in New Orleans.
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