Mexico

Mexico plans to offer 30 blocks for deepwater exploration in the fourth auction of the Round 2 series in what one analyst said was “an all-out effort” by the nation’s energy authorities to follow up on recent upstream auction successes as part of the 2013 energy reform.

Natural gas transporters in Mexico are implementing the pipeline electronic bulletin boards (EBBs) required under new market rules, but key regulations are not yet in place for the main network, the Integrated Natural Gas Transport and Storage System (Sistrangas).

Four land rigs packed up while two offshore rigs returned in the United States during the week ended July 21, according to data released Friday by Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI).

When Brazil’s energy industry was reformed more than a decade ago, state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, aka Petrobras, raised $70 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) amid a buying frenzy in the Sao Paulo stock exchange. Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicano (Pemex) had no such luck in the country’s oil and gas reform, but the company has no plans to go it alone.

The Port of Corpus Christi in South Texas, where a building boom is underway from oil and natural gas growth fueled by the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, is readying for another big expansion designed to transport energy to Mexico.

Demand pull from exports to Mexico and from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the Gulf Coast has bolstered Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) outlook for its natural gas transportation business, as volumes rose during the second quarter. Expansions targeting Permian Basin output also are on the horizon.

As Mexico’s natural gas imports from the United States grow, pent-up demand remains in parts of the country that lack the necessary pipelines, according to Marcelino Madrigal a commissioner at Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE).

Producers that have been awarded blocks in Mexico’s historic oil and natural gas upstream auctions should not rest on their laurels, said Talos Energy LLC CEO Tim Duncan.

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Rules were scheduled to begin debate Tuesday afternoon on a pair of bills designed to streamline the permitting process for energy infrastructure, including oil and natural gas pipelines.