López Obrador in shock reversal of Mexican oil policy

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador is set to allow Pemex, the struggling state oil company, to resume joint ventures with the private sector next year, a senior government official said, in what would be a reversal of his previous fierce opposition to the country’s energy reform.

The leftist president is also set to revive private company exploration in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in an effort to kick-start investment and production and stave off the threat of a credit rating downgrade for Pemex, the Financial Times reports.