At the end of October, the director of Pemex, Víctor Rodríguez, assured analysts in a dialogue that they had listened to the sector and made adjustments to the contracts. However, according to sources, investors continue to see the same problem: the centrality of Pemex in business, leaving the smallest part of the pie to private companies. Pemex said it will reschedule long-term payments to suppliers after settling debts for 2025. «The new contracts are still not well-received.» According to the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, this December will see the first private investments in partnership with Pemex after adjustments to new mixed contracts. However, the market anticipates that the changes have not been sufficient to convince more participants. Executives in the oil sector agree that it is predictable that in December, no fewer than the 11 investment projects under mixed contracts announced in August as part of Pemex's strategic plan will be announced. Although in September Sheinbaum stated, as part of her first government report, that these projects were already closed, the reality is that there were widespread doubts in the sector that delayed the signing of new contracts. «The reality is that there is still no trust in the regulatory frameworks for the sector or in Pemex's ability to pay,» says the source. For the government, the materialization of these projects is key to starting to generate sufficient resources that will allow it to have cash flow and thus increase its investment to adequate levels to stop and reverse the decline in crude oil production, as its finances remain in the red, as disclosed in its third quarterly report of the year. In an analysis report published this Tuesday by Fitch, it warned that the company's performance «continued to be highly dependent on the financial backing of the Federal Government,» which has not translated into a structural improvement in its profitability. Pemex returned to the red: it lost 61.2 billion pesos and its debt exceeds USD 100 billion. Additionally, it pointed out that without the boost from new investments, coupled with making its refining operations more efficient, «the goal of ending the Federal Government's support from 2027 does not seem viable.» The United States is also following demands regarding Mexico's energy policy, despite Luz Elena González's promise of greater openness to private firms. «But there is also this new energy sector regulation where Pemex remains the priority company and does not encourage the participation of new players,» said the anonymous source. In this sense, he predicted that in December participants will be announced, but they will be few. This week, a letter signed by 600 energy companies demanding that the USMTC review take into account the correction of «violations by Mexico» arrived at the USTR's office in the US, as they accuse it of discrimination in favor of Pemex and CFE.
