{"id":2131,"date":"2026-07-04T00:18:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/?p=2131"},"modified":"2026-08-26T01:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T01:25:59","slug":"pemex-and-petrobras-beyond-political-affinity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/pemex-and-petrobras-beyond-political-affinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Pemex and Petrobras: Beyond Political Affinity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Petrobras<\/strong> and Pemex<\/strong> signed a memorandum of understanding<\/strong> on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro<\/strong> to cooperate in exploration, production, and industrial processes<\/strong>. The gesture can be read as a political signal between two close governments, headed by Lula da Silva<\/strong> and Claudia Sheinbaum<\/strong>, but the underlying question is not whether Brazil<\/strong> and Mexico<\/strong> share a state-oriented sensitivity regarding energy, but why Petrobras<\/strong> comes to the table as a company with international muscle, corporate discipline, and exportable technology<\/strong>, while Pemex<\/strong> arrives seeking capabilities that it lost or never fully managed to consolidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference is not that Petrobras<\/strong> has ceased to be state-owned. The Brazilian Government<\/strong> retains control of the common shares and, therefore, decisive influence over the company. The difference is that this control coexists with a market structure<\/strong> that imposes checks and balances. Common and preferred shares<\/strong> listed on the stock exchange, a broad base of private investors<\/strong>, corporate governance<\/strong> rules, committees, compliance standards, and a board with independent participation are among the characteristics of the Brazilian oil company. After the trauma of Lava Jato<\/strong>, Petrobras<\/strong> strengthened internal controls, transparency, auditing, and decision-making processes<\/strong> that reduce the room for operating solely as an administrative arm of the Executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That architecture makes it possible to contain the political element. Although Petrobras<\/strong> continues to respond to national priorities, the company cannot completely ignore the cost of capital<\/strong>, the profitability<\/strong> of its projects, the reaction of the markets, or the evaluation of its partners. That is why its recent internationalization<\/strong> does not look like oil diplomacy, but rather a business strategy<\/strong>. In Colombia<\/strong>, it operates the Sirius<\/strong> gas project together with Ecopetrol<\/strong>. In Namibia<\/strong>, it took a stake in an exploration license together with TotalEnergies<\/strong>. In S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe<\/strong>, it has acquired offshore<\/strong> positions. In Ivory Coast<\/strong>, it is seeking deepwater<\/strong> blocks. In all these cases, Petrobras<\/strong> moves as a company that monetizes its main technological advantage, its experience in deep and ultra-deep waters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement with Pemex<\/strong> fits into that logic, covering deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico<\/strong>, mature fields<\/strong>, seismic reprocessing<\/strong>, refining<\/strong>, petrochemicals<\/strong>, fertilizers<\/strong>, gas<\/strong>, energy efficiency<\/strong>, emissions reduction<\/strong>, and lower-carbon-intensity fuels<\/strong>, among other related areas. For the moment, it does not commit investments or create a joint venture<\/strong>; it only opens an entry point to review data, measure returns, and evaluate whether there is a business opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the central difference between the two companies. Petrobras<\/strong> explores cooperation, but under viability filters<\/strong>; Pemex<\/strong> needs cooperation because its financial and operational margin<\/strong> remains narrow, and it seeks it in Petrobras<\/strong> because it is the option that political rhetoric<\/strong> allows. After years of opposition to the energy reform<\/strong>, the oil rounds<\/strong>, and the entry of major private oil companies<\/strong>, cooperating with a Latin American state-owned company, even though it increasingly operates with the logic of a private company, is more defensible than openly acknowledging the need for external capabilities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contrast is uncomfortable for Mexico<\/strong> because both countries claim energy sovereignty<\/strong>, but Brazil<\/strong> allowed its oil company to preserve scale, ambition, and business discipline<\/strong> within a market that continued to function. Petrobras<\/strong> did not grow isolated from the State, but rather in an environment where the ANP<\/strong> maintained oil rounds<\/strong>, competitive bidding processes<\/strong>, and rules for partnering with other companies in exploration and production<\/strong>. That institutional framework forced Petrobras<\/strong> to compete, partner, and justify capital<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pemex<\/strong>, in contrast, carries the burden of fiscal pressure<\/strong>, debt<\/strong>, operational deterioration<\/strong>, and a narrative that confuses state control<\/strong> with industrial strength<\/strong>. Added to this is an energy reform<\/strong> that remained halfway completed and was politically dismantled before becoming institutionally consolidated, and that never fully translated into a new governance<\/strong> structure for the company. Yes, Mexico<\/strong> can learn from Petrobras<\/strong>, but signing memorandums<\/strong> is not enough. It must observe how a public company<\/strong> can act with the logic of a private company<\/strong> without denying its national origin. The lesson to be learned is how to shield it from decisions that destroy capital<\/strong> and reward projects capable of competing<\/strong> outside the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article was originally published by La Prensa OEM<\/strong>.<\/strong>
Date:<\/strong> July 4, 2026
Link:<\/strong> https:\/\/oem.com.mx\/la-prensa\/analisis\/opinion-por-alejandro-sanchez-pemex-y-petrobras-mas-alla-de-la-afinidad-politica-30924435.html?app=true<\/a> [Online]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Petrobras and Pemex signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro to cooperate in exploration, production, and industrial processes. The gesture can be read as a political signal between two close governments, headed by Lula da Silva and Claudia Sheinbaum, but the underlying question is not whether Brazil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2,38,41,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-business","category-energy-policy","category-oil-markets","category-pemex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2133,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2131\/revisions\/2133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulalejandro.one\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}