Mexico President-Elect Plans Oil Drilling Tenders, No New Mining Taxes

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sept. 6 his government would launch tenders for drilling oil wells from early December as part of a plan to quickly increase the nation’s crude output.

Lopez Obrador has long criticized the outgoing government’s policy of opening the oil industry to private capital and promises a new approach aimed at strengthening state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, and refining more crude in Mexico.

The veteran leftist has said he will suspend auctions to give private companies rights to explore and produce from Mexican oil fields until his team had checked existing contracts for irregularities.