Pemex finalizes mixed contracts with private companies

Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is preparing the final details for its new mixed contracts for oil field development. It will seek to maximize the resources of its fields across all geological regions by leveraging private capital through partnership schemes.

With this, the state-owned company will face a challenge due to the urgency and the manner in which tenders are issued, as well as the contract conditions, experts said.

According to President Claudia Sheinbaum's first government report, the first 11 mixed contracts have been signed to date, as part of an initial phase.

"Pemex is currently advancing in the process of formalizing a second group of allocations under this same scheme, the completion of which is expected before the end of the year," according to the Executive document. However, it did not specify which fields have already been awarded.

Pemex's communications department told El Economista that the process is underway to determine which projects will be implemented under the mixed contract scheme, and that when precise and concrete information on the projects is available (a circumstance that has not yet occurred), full details will be disclosed.

The 21 hydrocarbon fields grouped into mixed contracts that Pemex made public within its 2025-2030 Strategic Plan are: Tlatitok-Sejkan, Macuil-Paki, Arenque, Kayab-Pit-Utsil, Xikin, Tetl (secondary recovery), Tlacame (secondary recovery), Ayatsil (secondary recovery), and the Akal gas cap, in shallow waters.

On land: Tertiary Tupilco, Miquetla, Sini-Caparroso, Macavil, Cuervito, Madrefil-Bellota, Pánuco, Agua Fría, and Tamaulipas Constitucións. And in deep water: Exploratus, Cratos, and Nobilis-Maximino.

Juan Acra, president of the Mexican Energy Council (Comener), considered that Pemex's debts to its suppliers undermine its position in seeking out oil companies with experience and resources to participate in these tenders. It should be taken into account that the oil resources Pemex will put up for bid are located in areas that are difficult to exploit, requiring resources and extensive experience.

“The main concern is the quality and capacity of the contractors who decide to participate in these contracts. We already experienced the 'Incentive Contracts' implemented in 2011 under the 2008 reform, which were subsequently modified to become Financed Public Works contracts—with the resulting impact on public debt. In some cases, these contracts ended up being awarded to inexperienced contractors new to upstream projects, with whom PEP now has multimillion-dollar debts and potential conflicts,” said the specialist.

Ramsés Pech, an analyst on the subject, considered that, given that companies in the sector are unaware of any open call for bids, it is presumed that the tenders are being carried out through direct invitation processes to companies. Therefore, he hopes that the information emerging from the data rooms that have been opened for fields such as Cuervito, Tamaulipas, and Kayab-Pit-Utsil will contain everything necessary for a good evaluation by the contractor.

"Any missing data needed to review resources and their feasibility could become very costly when operating the fields, because the goal will be to first calculate costs and then make a profit, which can only be achieved with a super-meticulous design," he said.

In its second-quarter earnings report, Pemex reported that contract revenues must always primarily cover tax obligations, with a maximum of 30% of revenue used for cost recovery, with each contractor's share based on their percentage of the contract, and a minimum of 40% for Pemex.