Ahead of the anticipated energy reforms, Mexican magnate Carlos Slim has been gradually investing in the sector over the last seven years.
Although upcoming telecommunications reforms will see Slim’s Telmex lose a certain share of the market, he seems determined to make up for any losses by moving into the oil industry. While he cannot invest directly in Pemex or produce crude oil in Mexico, Slim, the world’s richest man, has won several contracts to help Pemex drill for oil, while investing in several oil-producing companies elsewhere in Latin America.
Since December 2006, Swecomex, a subsidiary of Slim’s Carso Infrastructure and Construction (CICSA), has won a number of contracts from Pemex for the drilling and completion of oil wells in southern Mexico – projects worth over 400 million dollars. Swecomex remains a major supplier of Pemex to date, while CICSA recently signed a 415-million-dollar contract with Pemex in return for the use of its drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.In 2008, Slim acquired a 5.99 percent stake in U.S. firm Allis-Chalmers Energy, which specializes in oil, natural gas and well drilling and has contracts in several Latin American countries, including Mexico and Argentina. The same year, Slim bought 15.4 percent of Bronco Drilling, a contractor from Oklahoma which won two contracts to drill onshore wells in the Chicontepec basin in eastern Mexico.
The following year, Slim increased his share in Allis-Chalmers Energy to 9.2 percent, while CICSA bought 60 percent of Bronco Drilling’s Mexican operations for 30 million dollars.
In February 2011, Slim bought 70 percent of the Tabasco Oil Company in Colombia for 23.3 million dollars, while in June 2012 he also bought 8.4 percent of Argentina’s YPF oil firm. If the Mexican government succeeds in allowing private companies to invest in Pemex, it seems likely that Slim will be among the first in line.