Washington Times: Pemex negotiates alliance with Shell (ShellNews.net)

Posted 1 September 04

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex Tuesday opened negotiations with the multinational Shell to exploit oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pemex sources close to the negotiations said that though alone Pemex is trying to bring about a deal with the U.S. arm of the Shell Group, Mexico President Vicente Fox has interest in accerating an agreement before he concludes his term in 2006.

The alliance would be useful for the joint exploration of new deep oil reserves recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico which Pemex estimates to be around 54 billion barrels.

Pemex and Shell Exploration and Production Co. would share the reserves that overlap on the U.S.-Mexico marine border.

According to the sources, Shell would be in charge of extracting the crude oil and keeping the quota for production. Pemex would be responsible for providing the jobs in exploration and drilling.

A commerical agreement between Pemex and Shell would preempt a potential conflict between the two countries over rights in the maritime zone which are shared by both countries.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040831-063040-4229r.htm