Mexico Energy Reform

Haynes and Boone developed this resource center to help companies better understand and capitalize on the abundant business opportunities resulting from Mexico’s Energy Reform. Keep track of important announcements, key developments and news related to the progress of bid rounds and other initiatives linked to the reforms in Mexico.

Sectors included in Mexico's Energy Reform:

• Upstream - Mexico’s new Hydrocarbons Law was one of the new statutes passed under the reform, and it regulates various aspects of the oil and gas sector, including upstream activities. New exploration and production agreements will be allocated through a competitive bidding process, which is conducted by the CNH, regulated by the Ministry of Energy, and based upon parameters set by a different statute, the new Hydrocarbon Revenue Law.

• Midstream - The Mexico Energy Reform includes constitutional amendments that make clear that only exploration and production activities are exclusive to the state, which allows private companies to participate in the transportation, storage and distribution of oil, natural gas, and petroleum and petrochemical products.

• Downstream - Before Mexico’s Energy Reform was implemented, the Constitution required that Pemex be the exclusive provider of materials for secondary petrochemical processing. The new constitutional amendments eliminate the state’s exclusivity on basic petrochemical processing as an economic activity, and allows private parties to participate in refining, petrochemical and natural gas processing.

• Electric Power - The Mexico Energy Reform will allow for private participation in the generation and sale of electricity, since planning and control of the national grid and the transmission and distribution of electricity are strategic issues in the country.