Insights
Why major investors are now being drawn to Mexico’s oil sector
Mexico’s abundant on-shore and offshore basins are now starting to attract significant independent and foreign investment.
Fuelled by Mexico’s energy reforms, enacted in 2014, 2017 saw more than $800 million in upstream deals agreed by state-controlled Pemex to form joint ventures on a handful of major projects. Several successful licensing rounds were also completed.
This sudden flood of activity means that only Brazil, Argentina and Colombia have seen more deals in pure dollar terms since 2014, according to a new report released in partnership by the Daily Oil Bulletin, Evaluate Energy and Sproule. Entitled Latin America: Assessing the impact of oil prices, energy reforms and national oil companies on deal activity, the report is available for download here.
Source: Latin America: Assessing the impact of oil prices, energy reforms and national oil companies on deal activity
The new report shows that while Brazil and Argentina lead by far with US$12.9 billion and US$7.8 billion in upstream sector deals since the start of 2014, respectively, Mexico is suddenly only slightly behind Colombia in fourth place in the rankings over the full four-year timeframe after this busy year of deals since the end of 2016. If the momentum achieved in 2017 continues, Mexico can expect significant additional investment over the next 11 months.
“Touted as having one of the best energy futures of any developing nation, Mexico has abundant untapped potential in both onshore and offshore basins, including virtually untouched unconventional resources,” said Jim Chisholm, report co-author and Vice President, Latin America, at Sproule.
“Since these reforms began, the country has been hard at work attracting foreign investment and continuing to build a robust regulatory and investment environment to support future growth.”
For more information on upstream M&A activity in Mexico, including details on the seven stages of license awards, Pemex’s US$800 million in joint arrangements and an overview of the licensing award schedule for 2018 and beyond, download the full report from the Daily Oil Bulletin, Evaluate Energy and Sproule at this link.