Landmark upstream deal for GOM deep waters

Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico’s Western Gap, which straddles the US/Mexico maritime border, may soon get under way following a landmark deal agreed on 20 February

The agreement, signed by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, was negotiated last year and will lift the moratorium on exploration in the 1.5 million-acre area. The Western Gap ban was imposed because of uncertainty over ownership of the area’s resources. Under the terms of the deal, US firms will be able to collaborate with Pemex, Mexico’s national oil company, to explore the region and bring any discoveries into production. It also includes a legal framework for developing reservoirs that lie within both countries’ jurisdictions. And there is an arrangement allowing US and Mexican regulators to carry out joint safety inspections, a move prompted by