Pemex May Award First Oil Exploration Contract by End of 2009

Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008

Petroleos Mexicanos may award the company's first external oil production and exploration contract by the end of next year, as it targets producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp.,Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp.

The contracts will focus on deepwater projects or its onshore Chicontepec development, areas where the state oil company lacks technical expertise, said Carlos Morales, chief of exploration and production at Pemex, as the company is known. Pemex lowered its daily output forecast for 2008 on Oct. 30.

``We expect to be ready to release the first tender by the middle of the year and award it by the end of the year,'' Morales said in an interview yesterday at his Mexico City office. ``We can learn the most from working with major oil companies, such as Petrobras, Statoil, Exxon, BP, Shell, Total and Chevron.

Source: Bloomberg