MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) — Tenders for the exploration and development of oil fields for private companies will be held in Mexico in the first quarter of 2015, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced at the first Bloomberg Latin America Forum in New York.
"I believe that in the first quarter of the next year we will have the list of all of these fields," Pena Nieto said Monday after being asked about the oil fields that would remain under state control and those set for tender.
Since December 2013, an energy sector reform has been under way in Mexico, allowing private investment in this sector for first time in nearly 80 years. As a result of the reform, state-owned petroleum company Pemex and state-owned electric utility CFE can now sign contracts with private companies and attract private investments. Private companies can participate in the development, production, processing, transportation and storage of oil, gas and electricity.
In the beginning of 2014, Russia's Lukoil signed a cooperation agreement with Pemex, the first foreign partnership since Mexico ended the state's monopoly of energy.
In December 2013, Mexico approved a historic bill allowing foreign companies to enter its energy sector. The new law also allowed private Mexican energy companies to drill for oil and gas with the state-run Pemex.
