Mexico centrists like oil contract plan, eye graft

key Mexican opposition party could back a central part of a government plan to boost private investment in oil drilling, but wants tweaks to the proposal to prevent corruption, a lawmaker said on Wednesday.

President Felipe Calderon, a conservative, has presented his oil reform plan to the divided Congress as a way to reverse a decline in crude output in the world’s No. 6 producer.

A key measure would allow state oil company Pemex to sign performance-based contracts with private firms. It would apply across the oil industry, but is largely aimed at speeding up drilling at potentially huge deep-water oil fields.

PetroleumWorld