Foreign investment has started pouring into Mexico’s oil and gas industry, unlocked by nine licensing rounds following the 2013 Energy Reform championed by President Enrique Peña Nieto. As PEMEX celebrates its 80th anniversary, it finds itself reborn as a productive enterprise of the state competing with international oil companies in what was once its exclusive domain. With significant new discoveries being made by both PEMEX and private operators, the first steps toward reversing Mexico’s declining production have been made.
Mexico’s midstream and downstream markets are also being reshaped. The country’s natural gas pipeline network is growing rapidly, with significant storage capacity on the drawing board. At the end of the chain, the liberalization of fuel imports and the end of PEMEX’s distribution monopoly has resulted in a wave of national and foreignbranded gas stations replacing the traditional PEMEX colors and offering consumers more choices at the pumps.
