Mexico's Pemex looks to boost gas and oil reserves during Sheinbaum presidency, document shows

Woodside Energy

23/10/2024 21:35

(Adds context on partnerships in paragraphs 7-14)
    By Adriana Barrera
       MEXICO CITY, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil
company Pemex aims to increase its hydrocarbon reserves and
ensure their restitution during the government of newly elected
President Claudia Sheinbaum, according to an internal Pemex
document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. 
    Pemex will also intensify deepwater exploration and develop
new business models to attract investment, the document shows.
    During the six-year administration of Sheinbaum's
predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Pemex had put aside
deepwater exploration to focus on projects that would deliver
production quickly, although many have started to decline early.
    Pemex did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment. Sheinbaum’s office did not directly answer the Reuters
request for comment.
        Pemex would also look to develop new business models to
attract external investment, the document showed, after Lopez
Obrador did not seek partnerships with private companies to
develop exploration and extraction projects.
    Lopez Obrador had ended the bidding for contracts introduced
during the energy reform a decade ago, arguing that resource
wealth was being handed over to private and foreign companies at
the expense of Pemex. 
        Pemex already has a partnership with Australia's
Woodside Energy  WDS.AX , signed in 2017, for the Trion field in
ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
    As a result of the energy reform, Woodside has a 60% stake
in the project and is the operator. Pemex owns 40% and serves as
a financial partner. 
        Trion, which has proven reserves of 287 million barrels
of crude oil and 323 billion cubic feet of gas, is expected to
begin production in 2028.
    Sources recently told Reuters that the government of
Sheinbaum would seek to reactivate Pemex partnerships with
private companies to increase hydrocarbon reserves.
    Pemex's internal document indicates that the state company
would maintain onshore exploratory activity, shallow waters and
in areas surrounding production fields.
    It would also concentrate efforts on selecting exploration
and production projects that offer the "greatest potential for
success and profitability" in addition to mitigating the decline
of fields and strengthening the development of new ones.
    Pemex, one of the most indebted oil companies in the world,
produces on average 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude
oil, excluding condensate. Adding condensate, its production
rises to 1.8 million bpd.
    Sheinbaum, who took office on Oct. 1, has said that she
would seek to maintain current levels of crude oil production
during her six years in office. 

 (Reporting by Adriana Barrera; Editing by Diane Craft)
 ((Brendan.OBoyle@thomsonreuters.com;))