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American Energy Partners LP (AELP) on Tuesday announced a partnership with a private equity fund led by former Mexican President Vicente Fox to explore and develop Mexico’s unconventional oil and natural resources.

Mexico’s first independent exploration and production (E&P) company is securing its initial $525 million in funding with the help of private equity (PE) investors, including two big U.S. firms.

Mexico’s proven reserves of oil and natural gas fell 3.1% in 2013, according to data from the nation’s energy ministry. Meanwhile, national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has signed cooperation agreements with France’s Total SA and GDF Suez SA.

A subsidiary of Moody’s Investors Service Inc. is considering upgrading the rating of Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), following the Mexican government’s decision to reform its energy policies.

Energy reforms by the Mexican government are good news for the state-owned petroleum company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and electric utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), but the benefits won’t not be immediate and CFE may face challenges from increased competition, according to analysts with Fitch Ratings.

Mexico’s Congress on Thursday gave final approval to reforms that would open the country’s energy industry to foreign investment after 75 years of monopoly control by state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Outside money, talent and expertise are seen as vital to exploiting the country’s vast oil and natural gas reserves and stemming oil production declines.

Mexico is greatly expanding its natural gas pipeline and gas-fired power infrastructure while in the upstream sector, state-controlled Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) focuses on more-lucrative oil and allows non-associated gas production to dwindle. Increasingly, it will be gas from U.S. shales that comes to the country’s rescue.