That began to change with the presidency of López Obrador’s predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, who oversaw market reforms that allowed foreign direct investment in Mexico’s energy sector.
“He actually wants to roll back the reforms and go to an era in which the state controlled the whole sector, basically two monopolies,” Campero said.
But last year, Pemex made a deal to buy out Shell and take full control with the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, under the U.S.
The phrasing speaks to López Obrador’s populist and nationalistic view of the Mexican energy sector.
The country’s 2013 reform would have made that possible by drawing in foreign investment, giving private companies a stake in the future of the country’s energy sector.
In 2017, Houston-based Talos Energy discovered the billion-barrel Zama oil field in the Sureste Basin off the coast of the Mexican state of Tabasco, López Obrador’s home state.
“Talos is a proven, safe, and reliable operator.
He also reports on major policy issues before the Texas Legislature and county and city governments across Greater Houston.