A report on Mexico’s profile at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC)
has been published by Mexico Energy Intelligence® (MEI), a Houston-based
digital publication dedicated to regulatory, commercial and
institutional developments in the Gulf of Mexico.
OTC is the premier global conference for the oil and gas industry. This
year it was attended by some 70,000 delegates, speakers and
exhibitioners from more than 100 countries. Its speakers come from the
top ranks of industry, government and academia.
The report tells how Mexico’s “Silence Law” indirectly nixed discussion
of the unprecedented opening of the country’s oil and gas resources to
private investment. In fewer than 3 years, Mexico’s National Hydrocarbon
Commission (CNH) held 8 lease auctions and awarded 107 contracts to
nearly 80 companies from a dozen countries. What has been the experience
of bidders and Pemex partners? What is the outlook for production and
policy continuity? What could be improved? Such questions would
ordinarily be the focus of OTC panels.
This year, however, a uniquely Mexican restriction of speech interfered
with OTC programming. A “Silence Law” prohibits officials from speaking
in public during the 3 months prior to a presidential election about
their accomplishments. Prudently or otherwise, officials interpreted
this law to include OTC. Given the unavailability of high-level
government speakers, OTC decided to eliminate panels that would assess
the success and misalignments of the upstream reforms.
Although absent from the program, Mexico was not absent from the
premises. Pemex had a booth in the main exhibition hall and there was a
Mexico Pavilion in an adjacent building.
Ulises Hernández was a last-minute, breakfast speaker on the final day.
He spoke of Pemex’s plans to develop its portfolio and to seek partners
for frontier plays. Ernesto Ríos, director of Mexico Petroleum
Institute, said it could serve as a bidder’s engineering partner in a
lease auction. The presentations showed the expanding commercial
ambitions of these government agencies.
One panel on investments in the Gulf of Mexico featured a real-time
survey via a cellphone app. One question asked about the “biggest
inhibitor to unleashing Mexico’s oil potential.” 67% answered “political
uncertainty.”
“Beyond matters concerning Mexico, OTC 2018 was another all-you-can-eat
buffet of learning and networking opportunities regarding energy law,
regulation and technology,” observed George Baker, MEI’s publisher.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180520005066/en/
Copyright Business Wire 2018
Source: Business Wire
(May 20, 2018 - 4:56 PM EDT)
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