Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahn Chong-ghee to Attend Meeting of ACS Ministerial Council in Cuba

Sweeping reform of Mexico’s energy sector is creating new business opportunities for Australian companies as the country’s oil and gas industry opens up to foreign investment for the first time since 1938 International firms can now access exploration and production contract models – including licences, production-sharing, profit-sharing, and service contracts – that were previously off limits Australian companies were among the first to benefit from the reforms. The most notable is BHP Billiton, which won the right to develop the Trion oil field alongside Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil conglomerate. Located off the Gulf of Mexico, the Trion block is estimated to contain 485 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves ‘Mexico is set to seize the momentum created by the energy reforms,’ said Chris Rodwell, Austrade’s Trade Commissioner in Mexico. ‘There is optimism the BHP-Pemex partnership will trigger a spate of additional investments across the energy supply chain ‘That’s notwithstanding a pipeline of opportunities in areas such as high-voltage energy generation, rail, technology infrastructure and the continued build-up of manufacturing capacity.’Austrade is leading an oil and gas mission to Mexico in early May, enabling Australian firms to explore upstream opportunities in deep-water oil and gas, and conventional and unconventional resources, including shale.

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