On September 2, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) CEO Juan Carlos Carpio Fragoso offered private-sector companies a role across every link in the state oil company's value chain, from exploration to logistics. The announcement came at the forum "Investment and Infrastructure as a Growth Driver," organized by the Business Coordinating Council (CCE).
The proposal goes further than the joint exploration-and-extraction contracts established under the 2025 Hydrocarbons Sector Law, of which 10 have been signed to date, according to El Financiero. Carpio explained that Pemex needs to "accelerate the joint contracts" and that the company's own law, enacted in March 2025, "allows us to go further": working with private capital through mixed-participation schemes and financial instruments to expand the company's investment capacity. The condition, he said, is that the state retains control of the public interest, with risks, costs, and benefits shared. The opening is designed to attract external capital and technology to accelerate investment in the country's energy infrastructure.
The areas Carpio listed range from deep-water exploration, including seismic development and data reprocessing, to new extraction technologies aimed at slowing field decline and raising recovery factors. They also include maintenance and rehabilitation of the National Refining System, modernization of petrochemical plants, and storage and logistics operations, according to Energía a Debate. To implement the framework, Pemex will establish working groups with business leaders to analyze each segment and tailor contracts to individual projects, as well as to address outstanding supplier debt. At the same forum, Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar said Pemex had paid its suppliers 830 billion pesos over the past 18 months, a figure equivalent to roughly 26 percent of the amount owed in 2024.
Merlín Cochran, director of the Mexican Association of Hydrocarbon Companies (AMEXHI), viewed the initiative positively and noted that the mechanisms remain at the working-group stage. Carpio indicated that news about the organization's structure would come in the coming days and that the next four-month period will be critical for defining Pemex's contribution to the country.
This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.