Mexico's private oil companies make plea for legal certainty and partnerships

Mexico’s private sector oil companies have called for legal certainty and for new partnerships with the public sector, at a time of major regulatory upheaval in the energy industry.

The government is pushing through reforms that will end the independence of hydrocarbons regulator CNH and president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to prioritize the role of state oil company Pemex when she takes office October 1.

The regulatory reforms and the energy nationalism of Sheinbaum and outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador have raised concerns about the outlook for private investment in the Mexican energy sector.

“It will be essential to have a solid legal framework… defending the rights of the different players in the sector,” Alberto de la Fuente, chairman of oil and gas association Amexhi, said Thursday in the opening address of the association’s annual conference.

“We need independent, technical, autonomous and predictable regulation to provide certainty for investments and guarantee a level playing field.”

De la Fuente, who is also CEO of Shell Mexico, called on Sheinbaum’s government to pursue new forms of public-private partnerships in the energy sector.

“The arrival of the new government opens a new opportunity to build new ways of cooperating,” he said.

“We are committed to sitting down and working with the next administration to together achieve a better energy sector.”