MEXICO CITY, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil monopolyPemex plans to form a new company to explore for andexploit shale gas and deep-water crude in the United States asit seeks to branch out beyond its borders, the company's CEOsaid in a newspaper interview.
The company should be set up by the end of the year, EmilioLozoya told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published onMonday. Pemex is struggling to stem a near decade-long slide inoutput.
The move comes as President Enrique Pena Nieto seeks to pushthrough a proposed energy sector overhaul in which Mexico willopen up a range of new and mature oil and gas fields in Mexicoand its waters to private firms.
"Pemex will be starting a new company that will work on theshale-gas and shale-oil fields in the U.S. and in the deep-waterside of the U.S.," Lozoya told the paper. "We are alreadyexploring numerous projects."
Pemex already has a stake in the Deer Park refinery in Texasvia a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Currently under its constitution, Mexico can give privateoil companies neither concessions nor profit-sharing contractsto exploit either shale gas or deep water crude at home.
