GE Oil & Gas to help develop technology for Mexico's oil industry

GE Oil & Gas, a unit of U.S. industrial giant General Electric Co., will work with the Mexican Petroleum Institute, or IMP, on the development of technologies to improve productivity at oil and gas fields in Mexico, state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said.

The IMP and GE Oil & Gas signed an agreement Tuesday covering technology cooperation in the oil industry, Pemex said in a statement.

The initial phase of the agreement calls for research on technologies for the "optimization of mature offshore fields and the development of projects in shallow waters, deepwater and ultradeep waters," Pemex said.

Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya attended the signing of the agreement by IMP director Vinicio Suro Perez and GE Oil & Gas president and CEO for Latin America João Geraldo Ferreira.

Mexico's energy industry reforms will allow Pemex to become more competitive, expanding investment in human resources and technology as it deals with the industry's future challenges, Lozoya said.

The agreement with GE Oil & Gas opens the way for increasing the productivity of oil wells, slowing the natural decline of fields and expanding hydrocarbons reserves, Suro Perez said.

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