Loading ...Mexico’s Congress has approved sweeping changes to the country’s energy industry which will see private oil contracts awarded in the country for the first time since 1938.
New laws voted in on Wednesday will open the market to foreign oil firms.
As a result, state-owned energy group Pemex will lose the monopoly it has held since nationalisation.
President Enrique Pena Nieto has made energy reform the cornerstone of his administration.
He expects the changes will boost production back to 2004 levels by 2025.
Crumbling infrastructure, bureaucracy and corruption have pared Mexican production from 3.6 million barrels a day in 2004 to just 2.5 million.
The ending of Pemex’s monopoly required changes to the constitution, signed into law last year.
The reforms are expected to attract billions of dollars of investment into the country, the world’s ninth-largest oil producer.
They also authorise private production of electricity.
President Pena Nieto tweeted: “A more competitive and prosperous Mexico. They have laid the foundation for a new era of development and prosperity for Mexican families.”