Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex will unveil a new type of contract in the days ahead aimed at enticing foreign companies to help it extract oil from mature fields, the daily Reforma reported on Monday. Citing Pemex chief Luis Ramirez, Reforma said the contracts would replace the fixed-fee multiple service contracts which Pemex has offered to private companies in the gas sector but failed to drum up much interest among big foreign players.
"Pemex is very worried because the market no longer sees this scheme (multiple service contracts) as attractive because of all the issues surrounding it," Ramirez was quoted as saying.
No one at Pemex was available to comment on the report.
Carlos Morales, head of exploration and production, said in February that Pemex would offer contracts in the second half of 2005 to try and enlist companies with cutting-edge drilling methods to help it open up the Chicontepec oil field cluster.
Chicontepec is a mass of onshore oil fields that holds some 37 percent of Mexico's oil and gas reserves but is hard to access because of ground conditions and the depth of deposits.
The new contracts would mark Pemex's first attempt to work with private companies in the oil sector, following the multiple service contracts it awarded in the Burgos gas field.
The gas contracts proved highly controversial in Mexico, where many oppose private investment in the energy industry, and prompted some opposition lawmakers to start legal action to try and derail them.
Pemex also failed to net any major oil companies with the contracts, which offer a fixed fee for services rather than a share in profits. Some Burgos tenders attracted no bids.
Reforma said the new "alliance contracts" to be unveiled in the coming days would pay companies per barrel of oil extracted, which could prove more attractive than a fixed fee.
However it cited Ramirez as saying the new scheme would not be put into action until Pemex had talked to opposition lawmakers to try to win their support.
Pemex aims to hike crude oil production to 4 million barrels per day by 2007, up from 3.38 million bpd in 2004.
While access to possibly huge deep-sea oil deposits is hampered by a lack of funds and technology, Pemex hopes to boost output with the Ku-Maloob-Zaap project, in the Gulf of Mexico, and a light crude offshore project off Tabasco state.
Comments
Comments are closed.