Mexico’s New Shale Discoveries Could Double Gas Production: Minister
From Platts
New shale discoveries could double Mexico’s natural gas production, enabling it to transform itself from net importer to exporter. But how quickly those reserves are tapped will depend on how effectively a new administration, set to take office December 1, implements reforms to Mexico’s energy sector, Mexican oil minister Jordy Herrera said Tuesday.
Herrera said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Energy Forum in Dubai that Mexico would need to invest more than $10 billion annually for the next 10 years to tap into its shale resources that could double the country’s 6 Bcf/d production.
State-owned energy firm Pemex, which operates as a monopoly in Mexico, cannot afford that investment on its own, so the new administration will need to decide whether to open up Mexico’s energy sector to outside investment and competition or allow some kind of public-private partnership with Pemex.
“We have to make big reforms for fiscal purposes,” Herrera said. “In terms of developing the new fields in the Gulf of Mexico or the new fields for unconventional, I think there’s going to be a big opportunity with a lot of investment. If that is going to be developed through Pemex, we’re going to need a lot of public money that we don’t have. It will depend on the kind of reform that the new administration is going to send out to Congress.”
