Mexico's Energy Reform: Let the Bidding Begin

Mexico is on track to tender some of its more lucrative conventional oil and gas blocks in successive auction rounds beginning in summer 2015. Major international exploration and production firms have taken a keen interest in these resources, but some key policy questions remain for investors and the Mexican government.

In later bidding rounds, volatile prices could hinder the profitability of Mexico’s shale and deep-water potential, which have been key selling points of the reform. Rule of law uncertainties also increase risk for foreign investors. While the terms of the constitution and subsequent implementing legislation may be sufficiently favorable on paper, companies will need a sophisticated business approach with respect to potential transparency and accountability issues; unproven competition regulations; and environmental, social and security concerns. As the reform’s implementation moves forward, how will these issues affect the terms of private contracts, Mexico’s competitiveness in the global market, and the oil revenue generation expectations of the Mexican government?

The sponsors of this event — the Mexico Center and the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Americas Colloquium at Haynes and Boone, LLP — seek to engage energy industry executives and other stakeholders from the private sector, government decision-makers, and the general public in a series of panel discussions on the details of the bidding process, the pace of reform efforts in terms of geopolitical and price volatility, and the role of the rule of law in the reform’s implementation.