Mexico stuck in neutral

The resources are there and the reforms have opened the door to investors, but shale gas can't yet compete

Shale gas was once among the most highly-touted opportunities in Mexico's energy reforms, with streams of reports predicting that shale specialists who cut their teeth in the US would make the short trip across the border and bring a shale bounty with them. The potential is indisputable. The prolific and well-known Eagle Ford shale play spans the US-Mexico border and additional shale fields stretch down Mexico's Gulf Coast in the Burgos Basin. The Energy Information Administration global shale survey ranked Mexico sixth among the world's shale-gas holders with 545 trillion cubic feet in potential resources. This is a potential bonanza, considering that one of the central aims of Mexico's ene