Baja California Sur Agreement on developing transboundary reservoirs between Mexico and US
By Adina Moloman
Sources: www.presidencia.gob.mx, Business News Americas
The governments of Mexico and the US have signed an agreement on cross border hydrocarbons, last month in Los Cabos, the same place which will take place the next G20 summit.
Under this agreement signed by the by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, with US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the Mexican oil Company PEMEX and other US Private Oil companies can develop voluntarily the reservoirs in the gulf of Mexico on each side of the border.
The exploration area contains around 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The operations executed by Mexican or Us oil companies will have to go through an inspection process of both the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Mexican government.
According to the Mexican presidency, this signed agreement “reflects the commitment between the two countries to achieve solutions to shared energy challenges and operates on the principle of joint responsibility” and also this will make more efficient the use of both country energy resources.
Even thaw when this agreement is more like a voluntary agreement between countries petroleum and gas companies is still a little bit difficult to understand how a voluntary agreement will prevent the exploiting of deepwater petroleum exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico and US is also facing more challenging, a energy policy challenging including energy science and technology and energy market facilitation, considering there are different legal frameworks and policy in both Mexico and US, not mentioning energy regulation, nuclear energy etc.
