Falling oil prices are putting a cloud over the one thing Mexico\u2019s struggling government had been clinging to in its attempts to invigorate a sluggish economy \u201d\u201d its historic energy reform.<\/p>\n
The government had been planning to auction 169 oil and gas blocks next year. It was to be one of the most ambitious bid rounds the industry had seen in a country whose sector has been closed to private investment for nearly 80 years, and where production is at its lowest level in two decades.<\/p>\n
But the oil price fall has sobered what one executive called the \u201cfrothy, crazy bidding environment\u201d\u009d Mexico had been expecting, unsettling a government reliant on oil revenue for a third of its budget. Officials are hastily striking off shale and other fields that might now look unappealing to bidders. Long-awaited initial tender terms are likely to be published on Wednesday.<\/p>\n