Mexican oil company Pemex has announced that it will drill just 10 shale test wells in 2014, despite Mexico holding the world’s sixth largest reserves of shale gas, according to Reuters.
The new wells will bring the total number of shale test wells in Mexico to 175. Across the border in Southern Texas over 13,000 permits have been issued for test wells, showing the stark contrast in attitudes towards shale for the United States and Mexico.
Facilities in Texas produced 688,000 barrels per day last year whereas Mexico has yet to produce any shale oil on a commercial scale.
Gustavo Hernandez, interim head of Pemex’s exploration and production division said that Mexico’s shale gas reserves will eventually require 60,000 exploratory wells.
As a result of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s energy reform, which ended Pemex’s 75-year monopoly on oil and gas production, the bulk of shale development could be handled by foreign and private oil companies.
