BHP, Santos And Woodside To Join Australian Trade Delegation To Mexico

BHP Billiton, Santos and Woodside Petroleum will join Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile's mission to Mexico next week in an effort to develop new markets, according to, trade officials.

Representatives of the energy companies will join with Vaile in talks on Monday with the Mexican ministers for energy and for finance and public debt, as well as the head of Pemex, Mexico's state oil monopoly, and the federal electricity commission. “The objectives of the program will be to highlight the scope for trade expansion for Mexico, particularly in the energy sector, and provide the representatives from Santos, BHP and Woodside with an opportunity to showcase what their companies have to offer Mexico,” a trade official said in a statement. “The company representatives are particularly interested in opportunities to engage in joint projects or other forms of engagement in development of Mexico's energy sector, particularly upstream in the areas for oil and gas,” he added.

No formal agreements or projects are likely to be announced during the visit. “It's actually, I think at this stage, really more of a process of sounding one another out for what Mexico might want from us and what we have to offer Mexico. It's at an early stage,” the official said.

Visit to

&to=http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/home/home.jsp' target=_blank>BHPBILLITON

&to=http://www.santos.fr/index.html' target=_blank>SANTOS

&to=http://www.woodside.com.au/' target=_blank>WOODSIDE