State-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos plans to offer international companies a bigger stake than initially envisioned in several projects in Mexico, CEO Emilio Lozoya said in an interview published by The Wall Street Journal.
Pemex also is looking to accelerate joint ventures with private firms to ensure its capital expenditure plans for exploration and production are affected as little as possible by the recent sharp drop in oil prices, a development that has prompted many oil companies to slash costs and investments, Lozoya said Friday.
The company also is seeking partners for pipelines, storage terminals and industrial facilities such as power plants or fertilizer production sites, Lozoya told the financial daily.
"The opportunities for international oil companies in the rest of the chain are going to be bigger," he said.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto recently pushed through an ambitious overhaul of the country's energy sector, ending Pemex's more than 70-year monopoly.
Lozoya told The Wall Street Journal that he does not believe the drop in oil prices will adversely affect international interest in Mexico's market opening.
"The information I have is that interest continues," he said. "And a major reason is that Mexico has production costs that are far below the price of oil ... at $22 per barrel."
Pemex is investing a record $57 billion in 2014 and 2015 to search for oil in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, expand gas pipelines and upgrade refineries.
"This is going to support economic growth in Mexico," the CEO added.
Although Pemex reserved for itself 83 percent of the country's proven and probable reserves and 21 percent of potential reserves in a so-called "Zero Round" of non-competitive bidding earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal noted that joint ventures with private companies have always been in Pemex's plans and that lower oil prices may lead it to make those partnerships more attractive.
Citing a Pemex official, the daily said Pemex may in some cases have planned to have a majority stake in the field but now may instead choose to have a minority stake.
In another article published Thursday, The Wall Street Journal said drug cartels are one of the main hurdles that foreign companies looking to enter Mexico's oil market will face. 
EFE