ONGC Videsh Signs Agreement With Petroleos Mexicanos

New Delhi: Keen to expand into Mexico, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has signed an agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos or Pemex for cooperation in the Latin American nation.

The MoU (memorandum of understanding) was signed by Anil Bhandari, director (exploration) of OVL, and Gustavo Hernandez Garcia, director general of Pemex Exploracion Y Produccion, at Cancun, Mexico on the sidelines of the World National Oil Companies Congress- Americas.

"Under the MOU, the two companies plan to discuss future cooperation and collaboration in the upstream sector in Mexico. The MOU also envisages cooperation in the fields of technology, human resources, research and development," OVL said in a statement.

Mexico is the largest crude oil producing country in Latin America. It has excellent potential for both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon. As a result of recent energy reforms in the country, the oil and gas sector is being opened for participation by foreign firms.

Besides OVL, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), too, is looking to invest in Mexico as North America's third-biggest producer courts foreign companies after a 76-year hiatus.

Mexico in December permitted private investment in the oil industry to help reverse a decade-long slump in output.

Pemex plans to establish 10 joint ventures in mature, onshore and offshore areas by December 2015. It has fields holding an estimated 20.6 billion barrels.

OVL has participation in 35 projects in 16 countries, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam.

It currently produces about 160,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas per day and has total oil and gas reserves of 637 million tonnes of oil equivalent.