Mexico

Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has announced the start of the second deepwater farmout auction since energy reforms allowed the country’s national oil company to form partnerships with private and foreign players.

As Mexico’s energy deregulation continues to ramp-up, state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is being asked by the Mexican government to produce more crude in 2018 while reducing its spending.

No Mexican shippers submitted bids at a small auction held Sunday to release capacity on the NET Mexico pipeline, which carries gas from the Agua Dulce hub in South Texas to the Texas border town Rio Grande City.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations are an opportunity to update the 1994 treaty so that it reflects changes in Mexico’s oil and natural gas sector and deepened ties to Canada and U.S. energy markets, according to analysts.

BP plc and Bridas Corp. agreed Monday to create Argentina’s largest privately owned integrated oil and gas company, designed to not only explore emerging Vaca Muerta shale targets, but also to pursue developments in Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay.

CFEnergia has signed a 24-year contract to supply natural gas to an 866 MW power plant of Spain’s Iberdrola now under construction in northern Mexico. The CFE said the contract is valued at some $4 billion.

The strongest earthquake in Mexico in more than a century, which struck near midnight on Thursday, initially appears to have spared the natural gas and oil industry.

Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that, if elected, he would seek to review exploration and production (E&P) contracts signed after the country’s 2013 energy reforms.

Cenagas, the Mexican natural gas control center, on Wednesday lifted a state of alert imposed on the Sistrangas natural gas storage and transportation system imposed by Harvey’s impact on U.S. imports.