Growing pains ahead for Mexico's reforms
Regulators have won high praise from the industry for progress to date, but the oil opening is still in its early days and fresh obstacles lie ahead
After a rocky start, Mexico's oil reforms have gathered pace, with a series of successful bid rounds capped off by a major shallow-water discovery this summer by Houston-based Talos Energy. The find vindicated much of what the reformers had argued all along. Talos and its partners not only brought fresh capital into Mexico, it also brought fresh ideas. Armed with the same geological data Pemex has been sitting on for years, Talos looked afresh at the area off Tabasco State and spotted the Zama prospect, which initial drilling has shown could hold as much as 2bn barrels of crude, one of the industry's largest finds this decade. But the discovery comes with a hitch—one that points to the next
Also in this section
5 August 2025
After failed attempts to find a buyer for its stake in Russia’s largest oil producer, BP may be able to avoid the harsh treatment meted out to ExxonMobil and Shell when they exited—and could even restart operations if geopolitical conditions improve
1 August 2025
A number of companies have filed arbitration claims against Gazprom over non-deliveries of contracted gas or other matters—and won. The next step is to collect the award, but this is no easy task
1 August 2025
Europe’s refining sector is desperately trying to adapt to a shifting global energy landscape and nowhere is this more apparent than in its largest economy
1 August 2025
The Middle East natural gas playbook is being rewritten. The fuel source offers the region a pathway to a cleaner, sustainable and affordable means of local power, to fasttrack economic development and as a lucrative opportunity to better monetise its energy resources.
