In Table 1 of this report lists inflection points in the history of Mexico's energy sector since the Spanish Mining Ordinances of 1783. The focus of the report is on upstream developments since 2000.
CHRONOLOGY, the listing of events by their order of occurrence, is not history in the physical or social sciences for three reasons: one, there is no imputation of causation; two, in relation to human affairs, the story is missing of the interplay of intention, institutions and chance; and three, there no accounting for missed opportunities.
As we discussed in a report in 2023 (See Additional Reading), the energy history of Mexico begins 8,000 years ago with the domestication of grasses, resulting in corn, tomatoes, squash, and other crops. The new calories gave ancient Mesoamerican civilizations the surplus energy to build the monuments of Teotihuacán, Palenque, and Monte Albán, among many others.
The greatest energy revolution, however, was the one embedded in the Spanish conquest in the 16th century with the introduction of the wheel, arch, aqueduct, livestock, new crops, and gun powder. While energy supply skyrocketed, the Indigenous population collapsed from violence and European diseases. Fossil fuels would have been useless where wheels were absent.
The fossil-fuel revolution, which began in Mexico in the late 19th century (and in tandem with electrification), transformed the household, factory, urban life, and introduced industrial agriculture.
To jump-start oil exploration, the government reversed Spanish tradition and conveyed mineral rights to surface owners (1884-1917). An oil boom followed but so too did a backlash, and in 1917 public ownership of the mineral estate was restored. Governments and private investors would need a new conversation. In 1938, that conversation broke down, and the oil companies were expropriated. In 1958, the door was shut and not reopened until 2014. It would close again in 2019.
We prepared a chronology of inflection points in the energy history of Mexico since the end of the 18th century, starting with the Royal Mining Ordinances of Charles III (Table 1). Today, its concessions would be seen as indivisible mineral leases. The miner’s rights would continue so long as he operated the mine and paid the Crown 1/5th royalty on production; subdivision of the concession, however, would not have been disallowed.
The term “risk-service contract,” which occurs in the table, refers to a contract by which the mineral owner retains commercial rights to production and reserves. It is this type of contract that was offered to private companies during 2001-18 (and discontinued since 2019).
What is missing in Mexico is a modern mineral lease, which retains public ownership but conveys full commercial rights (as during 300 years of the Colony) and with the area divisible by farmouts.
