Slim wins Pemex contract to build marine infrastructure in Mexico
The Carso Group, of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, reported Tuesday that its subsidiary Operadora Cicsa obtained a contract from state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to build two marine infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Grupo Carso informs the investing public that on October 21, 2019, Pemex Exploration and Production awarded the consortium formed by its subsidiary Operadora Cicsa and the Permaducto company a contract for engineering, procurement and construction of two marine infrastructure units, "he said in a statement on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).
The award has an amount of 2,418 million pesos (about 126.6 million dollars) plus another 191.7 million dollars.
Of these, correspond to Cicsa 1,442 million pesos (about 75.5 million dollars), plus 69.8 million dollars.
The rest belongs to Permaducto, a company in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey dedicated to the manufacture of metal elements, the maintenance of industrial plants and port services.
The two marine infrastructure units, called MALOOB-E and MALOOB-I, will be built in the maritime zone of Campeche, a southeastern Mexican state with a coastline in the Gulf of Mexico and whose economy is dedicated to oil production.
The Carso Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Mexico and Latin America, reported that "the start of the work is subject to the signing of the respective contract".
The Government of Mexico presented on July 16 the Pemex Business Plan, which through a reduction of up to 11% of the tax burden and a multi-million dollar investment seeks to refloat the oil company, suffering from debt and a fall in the production and refining.
Pemex has a financial debt of more than 106,000 million dollars and another 64,000 million committed in workers' pensions, being the world's most indebted oil company.
During the last decades, its oil production has fallen from 3.4 million barrels per day in the Presidency of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) to 1.67 million barrels per day.
López Obrador has ordered the construction of a new refinery in Dos Bocas, in the southeastern state of Tabasco, but experts point out that to recover the production of crude oil, it would be necessary to invest in new deep-water exploration.
