PEMEX eyeing Repsol offshore activities in Cuba

PEMEX eyeing Repsol offshore activities in Cuba

In a turnaround from its Mexico-only approach, state oil company Pemex
is planning to participate in a series of activities abroad, including
offshore drilling in neighboring Cuba, Mexican daily La Jornada reported.

The news comes after Pemex announced early this month it spent $1.6
billion to raise its stake in Spanish oil company Repsol YPF from 4.8
percent to 9.8 percent, with the idea of creating a strategic partnership.

Objectives behind the move, according to a Pemex document obtained by La
Jornada, include piggybacking with Repsol in exploration in Cuban waters
as well as in the United States, Brazil and Colombia; obtaining
exploration technology; opening an office in Singapore and beginning
crude exports to new markets such as China and India; and seeking to
build latest-generation tankers in Korean shipyards. In raising its
stake, Pemex said it will unite its votes on the Repsol board of
directors with those of Spanish construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso,
which owns 20 percent of Repsol's shares.

Petróleos Mexicanos has been a political bone of contention between
privatizers and nationalists for at least the past decade. The company's
recent move is a hint that Mexican officials may now try to take a page
from the successful global strategy of Brazilian state oil company
Petrobras.

http://www.cubastandard.com/2011/09/13/pemex-eyeing-repsol-offshore-activities-in-cuba/