Contractors and subcontractors face an array of normal business risks in pursuing business opportunities in Mexico’s upstream. Risks are those contained within the terms of the contract as well as other types of risk that arise from the operating environment. This report contrasts the perceptions of risk by oil companies and oilfield service companies in relation to MSCs. The report also considers risks in relationships and contracts with local companies in Mexico, and notes the advantages of a direct contract with Pemex. Update 3 describes how a U.S. company added $100 million to its price--and won the tender.

This report provides a preliminary evaluation of the performance of Raúl Muñoz Leos as Director General of Pemex. The assessment has new relevance in the light of numerous proposals to reorganize Pemex's corporate governance. An update to the report will be prepared and sent to subscribers and customers based on his memoirs and the presentation of his book at the Club de Industriales on Nov. 8, 2006 (7 p.m.)

This report examines the deteriorating public confidence in pipeline safety in Mexico in the oil and gas industry. Institutional weaknesses are made visible by industrial accidents like oil spills, pipeline ruptures, well blow-outs and explosions at facilities. The oil spill in Veracruz on Dec. 22, 2004, is taken as a case in point. The report discusses safety programs in Pemex as well as on regional and national press reporting. The accident frequency points to challenges within Pemex and the federal and state governments. The updates address illegal line-tapping and the acts of pipeline sabotage of July and September 2007.

This report considers the scope of the proposals by the Bush administration to engage the governments of Mexico and Canada in conversations about coordinated energy policies for the region. The North American Energy Working Group (NAEWG) wasestablished in 2001 but it seems to have been superseded by a new initiative in early 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). CAFTA and the energy proposals for Central America in December 2005 raise new questions, among these are: How adequate is a trilateral approach? How to devise a regional regulator?

This report evaluates concerns and speculations in the final two months of the Fox administration. The report is based on observations, conference presentations and discussions in Mexico City during the first half of October, 2006. Topics concern the future staffing of key positions in Pemex, the outlook for oil production and the postures of the political parties in the Congress. The report includes an informal survey during the week of October 9-13 of political views about the post-election situation. Tables provide titles of relevant press items during the period covered.

This report explores the underlying economics of the operations of international oil companies. In Mexico, there is a strong perception that international oil companies (IOCs) have little or nothing to offer Mexico in upstream activities, as the technologies and equipment that they employ are all available on the open market. The report argues that there are other factors that make IOCs more competitive-by as much as $17/bbl (See Table 1)--than a national oil company (NOC) that operates in just one country.

Midway in the Fox administration senior executives in Pemex began speaking of the need for changes in the Mexican constitution in order to remove doubts about the legality of the newly introduced figure of the Multiple Service Contract (MSC). Three years later, they had worked out a much broader view of the role of third parties in the areas of E&P, refining, gas and chemicals. For this, regulatory and constitutional changes would be needed to give legal substance to the concepts of “strategic alliance” and “participation contract.” This report examines and critiques this broader view.

This report examines the system of upstream procurement of goods, services and technology by Pemex and offers a look into how such procurement might look under liberalized policies. One of the seemingly intractable questions in Mexico in recent years has concerned what is called “access” to deepwater technology by Pemex. The report gives special attention to the role of SIDOE as the upstream facilities department; then looks at upstream procurement and its regulation in a hypothetical future that includes IOCs. Fig. 1 depicts how the system looks today, while Fig. 9 looks ahead to an upstream regulator and IOCs. The outline of this report may be downloaded and printed from this website. Click on the report title in the window to the left of this summary. Note: We custom designed the shopping cart to permit the creation of a receipt with the customer's tax ID (RFC in Mexico) also name and address.

This report draws on Pemex's DIAGNOSIS OF ITS SITUATION (released March 30) with the five legislative proposals of President Calderón (released April 8). This report may be the only one that credits Calderón with the vision of the oil sector that requires a strengthing of the State (and, in parallel, a weakening of Pemex) in matters of upstream policy. Three of the slides and maps of this report may be individually saved and printed. The report is available by online purchase and by subscription. To view the CONTENTS on p. 1 of the report, click on the title to the LEFT and the first page of the report will appear in the window, and you can download or print this page. This report is priced at USD $125.00.

This 14-page report provides an overview of the best practices of international oil companies in relation to the formation of partnerships for deepwater projects. The subtext of the report is the situation in Pemex and in the current energy debate where the wisdom and necessity of partnerships in deepwater is being sharply questioned. Chart 1 is a comparison of time lines and production patterns in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, which are contrasted with an imagined forecast for Pemex output under a scenario without partnerships. An outline of the report may be reviewed and downloaded by clicking in the title list of recent reports. These reports are available by subscription as well as by online purchase. For Mexican customers, the software provides the option of creating a receipt that shows your federal tax ID (RFC).

In the light of the extensive--and contradictory--testimony presented at the Senate forum on oil policy, we returned to the original texts of the five legislative proposals of the government submitted in April 2008. We conclude that three of the five proposals are unrealistic--independently of any questions of their legality--while the other two have potential for strengthening both Pemex and the government, depending on the quality of the quality of the executives and board members who are chosen to fill the new positions that the law seeks to create. Two proposals stand out as bold, substantive measures: the modification of the Petroleum Act of 1958 to allow for private investment in the oil midstream (it is already permitted in gas) and the proposed Pemex Administration Act to replace that of 1992. By the new law, Pemex governance would be concentrated in one board of directors--with outside members--not in five boards, as is presently the case. The report includes two diagrams of how the laws related to each other and how they are supposed to influence existing and new agencies. Our reports are available by subscription or online purchase on this website. A customer may create a receipt of purchase, adding, as required, his tax ID number.