WSJ – Mexico awarded 10 blocks of oil and gas for exploration and development to bidders from 10 different countries, including some of the world’s major oil companies, at an auction in the capital Monday.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-awards-10-of-15-blocks-in-oil-auction-1497911352
Oil Price – Mexican state oil firm Pemex expected to restart on Thursday its Salina Cruz refinery, Mexico’s biggest, once a massive fire that killed one person and injured 9 others is fully extinguished, a spokesperson for Pemex told Reuters.
Marketplace – As the U.S. re-examines its trade relationship with Mexico, some in Mexico are doing the same – questioning reliance on trade with the north. One focus is natural gas. Pipelines now carry a record-setting amount of that fuel south across the border.
Reuters -Mexico’s oil and gas reserves fell last year as fewer discoveries of gas deposits offset a rise in additional crude reserves, the sector regulator said. Overall so-called 2P hydrocarbon reserves, or deposits considered proven and probable, fell nearly 6% in 2016 to total 16.77 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), compared to 2015 figures, regulator CNH said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-energy-idUSKBN18Q2KB
Bloomberg – For the first time in almost 80 years, a private company has sunk a new offshore oil well in Mexican waters — the latest step in the country’s drive to allow foreign competitors back into its energy markets.
Platts – Platts Analytics expects total Mexican dry gas production will fall another 0.4 Bcf/d by the end of 2017, further increasing Mexico’s need for US pipeline imports. However, this year has seen a number of delays on new export pipelines.
https://www.platts.com/videos/2017/may/snapshot-mexico-gas-lng-fuel-oil-power-052517
Oil Price – Mexico’s oil and gas regulator said last week that the country’s proved hydrocarbon reserves will drop by 10.6 percent in 2017. This forecast, coupled with the lower oil production that Pemex reported for yet another year in 2016, is painting a rather bleak picture of Mexico’s reserves.
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Are-Mexicos-Oil-Reserves-Almost-Depleted.html
Bloomberg – Raven Petroleum and MMEX Resources are building refineries in the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin, Texas, that will process ample local supplies of light crude into gasoline and diesel. The fuel will be shipped on existing rail lines across the border to Mexico.
Bloomberg – When an angry mob torched City Hall in the southern Mexican town of Tecpatan last month, it sent a warning flare across a country already thrown into turmoil by Donald Trump.
The outrage was over oil, specifically the government’s plan to auction off a swath of land around their farming community to private drillers. The fact that today’s target is the government’s energy policy could spell trouble ahead.
Reuters – Italy’s Eni said it expects that its recent crude oil discovery off the coast of Mexico would hold more than the 800 million barrels of oil it originally estimated. “This is an important find and we’ve found new layers of good light oil that make us think there’s more,” Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said.
Bloomberg – Mexico plans “without a doubt” to protect the country against low crude prices for next year, Deputy Finance Minister Vanessa Rubio said, in a continuation of what’s become the world’s largest commodities hedging program. The amount of Mexico’s export basket to be protected through market operations, versus through its stabilization fund, has yet to be determined,
Renewables Now – The Mexican renewables unit of Enel has started construction of a 200-MW wind farm in Coahuila, the Italian energy group announced. The Amistad plant will require a total investment of about $300 million.
https://renewablesnow.com/news/enel-mexico-breaks-ground-on-200-mw-wind-plant-in-mexico-562935/
Financial Times – Italian oil company Eni has discovered “meaningful” reserves of oil off the coast of Mexico after drilling the first well by an international oil company since Mexico opened up its long closed oil sector to private investment under a 2013 reform. “Reserves are still being assessed, but the well indicates a meaningful upside to the original estimates,” Eni said in a statement.
https://www.ft.com/content/2cf085af-9d85-315e-ad63-9f09099a93ee
Oil Price – Four years after Mexico’s energy reforms began, Lopez Obrador, who currently polls in first place to be elected for Mexico’s top public office in 2018, is threatening to derail the liberalization and review any contracts that have been signed since the entire process began.
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-Mexicos-Oil-Boom-Under-Threat.html
LAT – Many analysts agree that in at least one sector — energy — the two countries still share opportunities for financial gain and have less incentive for conflict. Even if some terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement change, they say, energy can remain a boon for both countries’ economies, along with that of Canada.
PV Tech – Mexico will add 5GW of new clean energy to existing capacity, representing 170% growth in generation for wind and solar over the last 18 years, secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquín Coldwell has said.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/mexico-will-add-5gw-of-new-clean-energy-capacity-says-energy-secretary
PV – Contracts have been signed for 1.8 GW of solar in Mexico, including one contract at a price of $26.99/MW by Fotowatio. The median price for solar in this auction was around $31.70/MW.
Oil Price – Should US-Mexican trade be re-negotiated or a replacement to NAFTA, the 1994 trade agreement, be put into place, it’s unlikely to affect the growing cross-border energy trade.
Reuters – Mexico’s state oil company Pemex began receiving imported fuel by train at a new privately run terminal for the first time in January as companies expand storage and transportation operations under the country’s energy opening, a senior executive said in an interview.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-pemex-diesel-idUSKBN151264
Reuters – Mexican gasoline prices will rise by as much as 20.1 percent in January compared to the highest recorded prices in December, the government said, as part of a program to end years of government-set prices at the pump.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-gasoline-idUSKBN14G15M