By Adriana Barrera
MEXICO CITY, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Mexico's president-elect,Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, assured private energy executivesin a closed-door meeting on Thursday their contracts will not becanceled if they meet existing terms, the head of the country'smain oil producers' association said.
Lopez Obrador, who has often expressed skepticism of privatesector involvement in Mexico's oil industry, met for the firsttime on Thursday with oil and gas executives, striking what wasdescribed as a diplomatic tone with them.
"The president-elect told us on various occasions that theywill respect contracts so long as we obviously comply with allof the contracts' commitments," said Alberto de la Fuente,president of Mexico's AMEXHI producers' group, following themeeting with Lopez Obrador.
"We left feeling at ease that our contracts will behonored," added De la Fuente, who also is head of Anglo-Dutchoil major Royal Dutch Shell in Mexico.
Set to become Mexico's first leftist president in modernhistory when he takes office in December, Lopez Obrador did notspeak to reporters following the closed-door event.
But his designated energy minister, Rocio Nahle, confirmedthe incoming administration's support for the contracts.
"We will respect the rule of law and the agreements thathave been made with the outgoing government," Nahle said.
She said the Lopez Obrador administration also will helpcompanies deal with any regulatory delays they face.
"We made a commitment that we will talk to the regulators,or more to the point that we will review the regulators becausethere is a constant complaint that they take too much time,"said Nahle.
Lopez Obrador earlier pledged to review for possiblecorruption the more than 100 exploration and productioncontracts that have been awarded under a sweeping oil openingfinalized in 2014.
The pledge to address regulatory bottlenecks could cheercompanies starting exploration and production ventures, some ofwhich have criticized the slow pace of approvals.
"The whole regulatory process is difficult and you have tohave a lot of patience," said Alfredo Bejos Checa, chiefexecutive of Grupo Diavaz, at a conference on Thursday inAcapulco.
Grupo Diavaz is a longtime service provider to Pemex and nowoperates fields on its own.
At the same conference, Maria Moraeus Hanssen, CEO ofGermany's DEA Deutsche Erodoel AG, singled out oil safetyregulator ASEA as slow moving.
"Sometimes, we get the impression that things are notcompletely coordinated (among government agencies)," she said."Processes before ASEA have been time-consuming."(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga and David AlireGarcia in Acapulco; writing by David Alire Garcia; editing byJonathan Oatis)
