1 February 2016

What is your or your business’ main area of growth?

Mexico Petroleum Company's focus is on upstream opportunities in Mexico.

What is your role in your job?

I am the CEO of Mexico Petroleum Company, which simply means that I am the guy that makes sure the vision becomes the reality. Our management team, which is beyond comparison to any other in the industry, makes my job achievable.

Where do you see the greatest opportunity in the oil and gas market?

The opportunities afforded those of us fortunate enough to participate in Mexico's Energy Reform are many and varied. We at Mexico Petroleum Company will focus our attention in the short term on onshore opportunities, carefully selecting those that meet our criteria and then diligently seeking to acquire them.

What do you foresee as the greatest challenge to our industry's future growth?

The greatest challenge facing our industry is actually our greatest opportunity and that is to build solid and enduring bilateral relations with Mexico and its people through our shared efforts benefiting us all. Secondary to that is keeping the faith in an environment of volatile commodity prices while we brave this new Mexico Energy Reform.

If you could wave a magic wand over the global industry, what would you change and why?

Waving magic wands can be dangerous because what may seem to help some could hurt others. But here's a safe bet, we at Mexico Petroleum Company develop our assets with the highest safety standards and be the model corporate citizen in Mexico as we produce for the benefit of our shareholders, our partners and the local communities.

What are the strategic priorities for your company in the next 12 months and beyond?

Mexico Petroleum Company will continue to analyze prospective assets, discuss our ideas with certain industry partners and then seek to acquire those assets and economically produce the resources from it.

How did you come to be in the O&G industry?

I was born to the oil and gas industry; third generation to a blue eyed wildcatter that discovered and developed the western half of the Permian basin – my grandfather, John H. Trigg. I grew up in and around the oil business in Roswell, NM, where oil rigs and pump jacks were the local landscape. I worked for my grandfather, learning the business from developing the prospect to staking the well to hopefully completing it. After his death, I ran the company, maximizing the value of our assets in New Mexico and throughout the Western half of the United States. I earned my undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Land Management and Petroleum Geology from the University of Oklahoma. In law school at the University of New Mexico, I emphasized my studies in Natural Resources and Queens College Oxford, UK, International Law.

My entry into the Mexican energy sector began in 1986, when I was commissioned to draft and negotiate a model draft bilateral treaty between Mexico and the United States on sharing hydrocarbons along the common maritime boundary. I have been captured by Mexico and its energy sector ever since.

What is your proudest work-related achievement to date?

Mexico Petroleum Company's greatest achievement lies ever before it. However, I take enormous pride in and gratitude for our Mexican partners and our extraordinary management team.

What one businessman/women do you admire most and why?

Among quite a number, I’d pick Alan Mulally (retired Ford CEO) as a particular standout. From 2006 (through the GFC, where Ford did not fall back on bailouts or bankruptcy), he turned around 30 years of losing market share to foreign car makers. With a collaborative approach, he led a restructure of Ford’s global operations, the creation of a new product lineup, a revitalisation of its customer relationships and made Ford one of the world’s most profitable and respected car makers. No one hit wonder – he’d done similar things at Boeing before.

What was the wisest advice you received from a mentor?

Question everything but when it's right, and you'll know it, do not hesitate.

What advice would you pass onto a recent graduate wishing to work in your line of business?

Take the time to understand the history of our industry because as with all history some of it will repeat itself. Understanding the achievements, the failures, the breakthroughs and the setbacks of the pioneers of our industry from its inception in Pennsylvania to modern day shale frackers will teach and inspire you in tough times and count on that – there will be tough times. This is a rugged industry full of dashing hopes and frustrating circumstances. There are a lot of opportunities to succeed and at least as many to fail. So, if you are not truly captured by the reaching into the ground and extracting oil and gas, you may want to rethink your career choice.

What’s the one interesting fact about you that no one would suspect?

I love white boards with a room full of bright, enthusiastic people and a problem to solve or an opportunity to analyze. The dynamics of that process are like no other.

How and where do you prefer to spend your spare time?

With my horses playing polo and with my family doing about anything.

What’s your favourite holiday destination?

Pretty much anywhere on the Yucatan Peninsula.

What is your all-time favourite book?

The Frackers, by Gregory Zuckerman and Dante's Inferno…both about subsurface activities.

What is you all-time favourite film?

Toss up: Intersteller and North by Northwest.

What three items would you take with you to a desert island?

A 100 sq. ft. PV solar panel complete with an array of plugs; a solar driven reverse osmosis de salination machine and a very large crate of cooked and sealed filet mignon and assorted veggies.

About WIlliam Waggoner

• Holds a B.A. in Petroleum Management emphasis in Petroleum Geology, University of Oklahoma.
• Juris Doctorate, University of New Mexico emphasis Natural Resources Law with special emphasis International Law, Queens College, Oxford University U.K.
• Current President of Mexico Petroleum Company responsible for overall company vision, coordination, planning, management of company bilateral relations, inside legal counsel and general strategic operations.