The transformation of Mexico’s richest man into his most important oil baron occurred slowly, almost subtle.
Carlos Slim accumulated participation in Energy Talos before transferring it to the company’s Mexican unit. There was an agreement by 2023 of $ 530 million to buy two oil assets from another billionaire. Then a $ 1.2 billion plan to develop a gas deposit in Mexico’s Gulf.
Adding everything, Slim spent more than $ 2 billion to become the most prominent private partner of the state -owned Mexican state (Pemex) – and, in fact, one of the few investors willing to do business with the state oil monopoly, which faces major debts and operational challenges.
Slim built his $ 94 billion empire based on a dominant telecommunications company that was privatized, and there is a certain poetry in the idea that the 85 -year -old businessman, in the twilight of his career, follows a similar path to what led him to the top of global wealth.
As in Telmex’s 1990 government auction, Slim has a president who pressures him for help, a deficient company that needs an impulse of efficiency and an industry with little competition.
“He is a pure monopolist, and who doesn’t like a good monopoly?” Said John Padilla, director of Energy Consulting Ipd Latin America. “He plays a game completely different from any other because he has a lot of pockets to reach.”
Continues after advertising
Through its company Grupo Casso, Slim has a minority stake in the Offshore Zama field, which should account for 10% of Mexico’s oil production, and partnered with Pemex in deep water gas project.
Although the exploration of fossil fuels is a relatively new operation for him, Slim has inherited experienced executives and engineers through his acquisitions.
However, the financial resources of the tycoon may not be enough for Pemex to be free from a $ 100 billion debt and recover oil production, which has fallen to the lowest level in 40 years.
Continues after advertising
The company’s financial problems are reaching a critical point after four consecutive quarters of loss, and even with Slim’s support, it can take years to explore the deposits of Zama and Lakach.
Slim’s spokesman and son-in-law refused to comment on this report. Pemex did not respond to the request for comment.
Investors have fled from Pemex, such as Norway’s sovereign background, which excluded the state -owned company from her portfolio last month due to corruption concerns. Other major investors sold their Mexican assets or stopped investing after Andrés Manuel López Obrador ending oil auctions and farm-out agreements with Pemex.
Continues after advertising
In addition, a series of leaks of oil, fires and fatal accidents in recent years have made investors apprehensive despite the promises of the continuous financial support government.
Partnership with Pemex “is a nightmare for anyone now, unless it has some kind of government guarantee that things will work,” said Alejandro Schtulmann, president of Emerging Markets Political Risk Analysis, a consultancy focused on Latin America. Still, Slim “has decided that if he will enter this business, he will do it right and try to set up something big.”
So far, Slim, who cultivated good working relationships with those who occupy the National Palace, is impressed by López Obrador’s successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum. They talk every few months and exchange text messages occasionally.
Continues after advertising
“The president is good. She works hard,” Slim said in an interview with Bloomberg in February. “She understood that she needs private sector investment.”
Sheinbaum’s energy reforms try to bring foreign capital back to Mexico, encouraging private players to partner with minority appearances in the oil giant. But Padilla warned that the new regulatory framework may not be sufficient to attract international companies to Upstream projects and reverse production in Mexico’s mature oil and gas fields.
“You need incentives,” said the IPD director, and the new rules “act as a unnecessary strength shirt.”
Mexico’s Energy Ministry did not respond to the request for comment, as was Sheinbaum’s office.
Even before the latest reforms, Slim was at the forefront of the return of private capital to the Mexican energy sector.
He funded Pemex’s effort in the Lakach project when the American Liquefied Natural Gas Company New Fortress Energy gave up in 2023.
Slim also invested in stalks after she faced regulatory problems under Lopez Obrador.
Houston’s company was forced to assign the operation and majority control of the discovery of 800 million barrels in Zama in 2021 – a decision based on an independent study. This undermined investors’ confidence and paved the way for Slim to acquire about 80% of the company’s Mexican unit, ensuring significant participation in Zama.
For stalks, Slim’s participation offered a level of protection for the investment that had become more precarious under the nationalist government of Mexico, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation that requested anonymity due to the privacy of the discussions.
Although the entrance of the tycoon did not accelerate the process, he assured that the project was not paralyzed in a regulatory limb, the source said.
In fact, Petrobal Sapi’s acquisition of 2023 by Spi, which gave him half of the rights to two oil fields on the coast of Campeche, was praised by López Obrador at the time.
The president celebrated the agreement “because it remains in the hands of the Mexicans.” It also brought to the Slim team the main executive of Petrobal, which presided over the area of exploration and production of PEMEX from 2004 to 2014.
Slim seeks to reduce costs and increase production in Campeche blocks. “We need to open more wells and buy a new platform,” he said in February. “We would probably build this platform ourselves in two years,” adding that he expects the venture to produce 40,000 barrels of oil per day next year, increasing to 80,000 barrels in the future, depending on the evolution of the market.
Still, there are numerous technical challenges in offshore drilling. In the case of the assets of the stalks, Slim admitted that he has not yet “defined” how Zama will be developed.
“It’s 180 meters below sea level, so building a platform would take a long time and represent a huge cost,” he said. “But we are studying this option, or some semi-submersible platforms.”
With the production of these fields and the Lakach Gas Project still distant, Pemex suffers.
Gross and condensed oil production fell this year to only 1.6 million barrels a day, a 11% drop from the previous year. And its production is less than half of what it was at its peak two decades ago.
Slim’s team is “making an interesting effort, but it will all depend on their ability to execute Upsstream projects where they have no experience,” said Pablo Medina, head of new projects at oil consultancy Welligence. “Obviously, they have political capital to feel confident to try.”
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
