Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process.

The news earlier this month of the spectacular accident at the Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Nohoch-Alfa offshore platform would seem, at first glance, to be an event with harsh consequences for the Mexican gas system. 

The production of hydrocarbons in the shallow water basins of the southeastern part of the country remains the largest contribution in the operations of the state-owned company. At the end of May, production in the area included 3 Bcf/d of associated gas tied to oil production and 1.1 Bcf/d of non-associated gas. These volumes are vital to sustain not...