State oil company Pemex drilled dozens of new wells and built a system to inject nitrogen gas.
"You want to know the size of it, look at Pemex's reserves, not BP's, " he says.
Pemex has agreed to buy electricity from the plant for the next 20 years.
As Pemex's giant Cantarell field continues its steep decline, Mexico's oil output is falling.
He settled with the landowners for an undisclosed sum--which Pemex won't be paying back.
Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, is the only company that can carry out oil refining.
But most of the country's reserves remain untapped because Pemex lacks the technology for exploration.
In October, Pemex announced discovery of a big new field in the Gulf of Mexico.
Like Mexico's Pemex, Venezuela's PDVSA needs to adopt the winning model of Brazil's Petrobras.
Pemex would act as the buyer and gatekeeper to the industry, Mr. Lozoya said.
Mr. Lozoya said Pemex would be prepared to pay "above average prices" to firms.
The explosion happened Thursday afternoon at an administrative building in the Pemex office complex.
"I profoundly lament the death of our fellow workers at Pemex, " the president tweeted.
The blast prompted an evacuation of personnel from the Pemex offices, a company spokesman told Notimex.
Even PEMEX guys get it in Mexico, as do feistier Latin American players further South.
In the decade to 2011, over 100 Pemex workers and subcontractors were tied to oil theft.
Pemex, the oil monopoly, on Sunday confirmed the figure, which was above the 33 reported killed earlier.
Mr Pena said Pemex rescue and security teams were working alongside city authorities to help the injured.
Pemex was born in 1938 after Mexico nationalized its oil industry, a key moment in Mexican nationalism.
Another key issue during Mr Calderon's term has been the condition of the state oil company Pemex.
But with output declining, Pemex hopes to find some way to bring in foreign capital and expertise.
However, to stamp out oil theft, Pemex will have to be as aggressive inside Mexico as abroad.
During the campaign, Mr Fox backed away from earlier plans to privatise Pemex, the state oil company.
Reform and modernisation of Mexico's massive state-run oil company, Pemex, has been a priority of his centre-right government.
Pemex was no help, telling him it had no power to alter the terms of an official document.
Mexico's Pemex and, the biggest of them all, Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco, which has 10 times Exxon's reserves.
An explosion at a Pemex office building at the company's Mexico City headquarters last month killed 37 workers.
But the stolen product cannot be palmed off on Mexican refineries, because they are all run by Pemex.
Politicians raid Pemex cash flow to pay for social programs--not leaving enough for Pemex to invest in new fields.
To halt the decline Pemex needs to put more capital into its fields.
应用推荐