MEXICO: The Time is Now

Cover of the report.Courtesy of Pemex

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Pemex has been transforming itself for 74 years. It is one of the oldest oil companies in the world," says Carlos Morales Gil, the general director of the upstream subsidiary, Pemex Exploración y Producción (PEP).

Mr. Carlos Morales, director of E&P, Pemex

The onshore fields of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco set the context for the boom years where the major discoveries in the Sound of Campeche, in which the largest discovery was Cantarell, the largest offshore complex in the world at the time. Cantarell reached peak production of almost 2.4 million b/d of crude in the early 1990s.

Now, through a process of natural depletion, Cantarell's output stands at just 400,000 b/d. This loss of production has posed a major challenge.

The era of easy oil from huge superfields may be over in Mexico, but Pemex is far from wallowing in nostalgia. "These days there are many small fields, and we have to work on them to build success. To do that, we have to be very efficient, we need to move faster with regard to contracting, identifying new forms of contracting, increasing the technical skills of our staff, raising the number of people working towards advanced degrees, and we also need money to tackle all of our projects," says Morales.

For Pemex the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico constitute the future for its oil and gas prospects, with potential resources of some 31 bboe.

Morales explains: "We started to work in deep waters in 2004 when we began acquiring seismic information and drilling with the only rig that we had at the time, which was limited to operating in 1,000 meters of water.

Mexico's oil production in the first half of 2012.

"When we were doing that we identified other areas, but they were in water depths greater than 1,000 meters. As a result, in 2007 we contracted three brand new rigs that were to be built in several yards abroad and that would be delivered to us in 2010/2011. In 2011, we received them.

Between 2002 and last year, investment in deep water has been $3.6 billion, but the spending has grown sharply now because of the arrival of three semi-submersible rigs. Each of the rigs costs at least $500,000 a day in rental, and they are capable of drilling at water depths of between 2,100 and 3,000 meters. Right now the rigs are drilling wells that are near the maritime border with the US.

With shale gas and oil are revolutionizing the energy world, and the Eagle Ford formation, one of the world's richest in shale stretching from Texas down to the border with Mexico and clearly beyond, the potential for Mexico to join the revolution is huge. Despite budget and legal restrictions likely to delay Mexico's emergence as a world leader in the exploitation of shale Pemex is already looking in that direction.

Sonda de Campeche. Courtesy of Pemex

In addition to the big investments in the upstream, Pemex is working more closely with the private sector to boost its downstream businesses.

Two of the major players in Latin America's petrochemicals industry are working hard on a project that aims to make an impact of $1.5 to $2 billion a year on Mexico's trade balance.

The alliance between Braskem, the petrochemicals leader of Latin America, and Idesa, one of Mexico's leading business groups, aims to revive the Mexican petrochemicals industry with the construction of a polyethylene complex in Coatzacoalcos in the southern Gulf state of Mexico.

While the private sector is already benefitting from Pemex investments in E&P and the introduction of incentive contracts following the 2008 energy reforms, all eyes are now set on what will happen at the country’s highest political level.

On December 1 2013, Enrique Peña Nieto is due to be inaugurated as the next president of Mexico following his election victory on July 1. The future president's electoral pledges include providing a much greater role for the private sector in the nation's state-controlled oil industry.

These are definitively exiting times in Mexico!

Opportunities Ahead for Private Sector

By Mexican law, all oil and gas in the country belongs to the state. As a result, profit-sharing or risk contracts, which are normal elsewhere in the world, are forbidden. Repetition. Indeed the law is enshrined in the Mexican constitution.

Location of the fields awarded on the second round of incentive contracts

However, Mexico's 2008 energy reform provides a window of opportunity in the form of contracts that provide cash incentives on the basis of results. The contracts are the first in which blocks are being contracted to the private sector. But, unlike similar contracts in other countries, the contractors cannot be given a portion of the oil produced. Nor can they book reserves.

Already two rounds of contracts for the development of mature oilfields under contracts based on cash incentives have been auctioned successfully and more are on the way.

In the first round, in August 2011, two contracts were won by UK-based Petrofac Facilities, and a third went to Schlumberger, the Franco-US company.

Both companies were involved in the second round, where four contracts were awarded. Their joint bid won one contract, another was awarded to Egypt-based Cheiron Holdings, and the big winner with two contracts was Monclova Pirineos Gas, MPG, which incorporates Mexican, Venezuelan and Colombian capital.

Mr. Ignacio Layrisse, general director, MPG

Mr. Jaime Buitrago, former president of ExxonMobil Ventures Mexico

Mr. Armando Rodríguez, general director, Sofimex.

MPG already has previous experience in Mexico, with its participation in two blocks under a system of multi-service contracts in the Burgos gas basin

"Our capabilities in the Mexican market have made us acquire our own drilling fleet. Today we have six in total," says Ignacio Armando Layrisse, general director of MPG.

A New Hand at the Nation’s Helm

In an interview with the Financial Times of London more than a year ago, Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico’s next president said that Pemex "can achieve more, grow more and do more through alliances with the private sector.

As the Financial Times commented: "Mr Peña Nieto’s own party, the PRI, nationalized the oil sector in 1938 and ensured that Pemex remained the country’s sole oil producer and only gasoline retailer. The constitution prohibits Pemex from forming joint-risk contracts with third parties which help to spread the risks and costs of finding and extracting oil."

Some of Peña Nieto's detractors have alleged that he wants to privatize Pemex. Nothing of the sort, he has countered on several occasions -- the aim is to strengthen Pemex, not weaken it as it faces major challenges in production.

Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's president elect

In the Financial Times interview he emphasized: "Different mechanisms could be explored to ensure an involvement for the private sector in its alliance with Pemex... Brazil is one example."

As in all three of the elections in Mexico in the democratic era that began with the new millennium, the July vote was a three-way contest, involving the PRI -- which ran Mexico under a one-party system for seven decades of the last century -- the center-right National Action Party of President Felipe Calderón and a leftwing alliance.

Several polls had predicted that Peña Nieto would win an overall majority. In the event, he was reduced to 39 percent support.

So, for the third straight time, Mexico will have a president with a minority in a Congress. Peña Nieto will need all his political savvy in order to enact his proposals, including the one for oil.

"In Burgos, we are drilling about six wells per month and we have more than 160 active wells. In just five years, the production has grown several times," he adds. "If you add up what we have done in our two blocks in Burgos, we have produced more hydrocarbons than anybody else, apart from Pemex."

MPG has no previous oil experience in Mexico, but its holding company does in Colombia. "Furthermore, a large number of our staff formerly worked for PDVSA, the Venezuelan state company, so we do know how the industry works," says Layrisse.

In the past seven years, MPG has invested $2.2 billion so far in the gas blocks. Initial investment in the two mature oil blocks are expected to be $3.5 to $4 billion.

Jaime Buitrago, the former president of ExxonMobil Ventures Mexico, agrees on the virtues of the incentive-based contracts.

"We think the 2008 energy reform was an important step in the right direction," Buitrago said. "And the integrated exploration and production service contract, which is the result of the reform, is best suited for the types of opportunities where Pemex has focused its application -- such as the reactivation of mature fields -- in contrast to more geologically risky projects such as deepwater exploration."

For Horacio Ferreira general manager of Houston-based Surpetrol, these type of contracts point the way to the future for relations between Pemex and the foreign and national companies that work for it, says Ferreira. "It is very difficult for Pemex to be everywhere, deep water, shale gas, marginal fields to name but few: They need to focus on "the easy oil, or better prospects, and just leave the more complex ones to other people. Regulation and associations with key groups are going to be key for the country. We were also compelled to fulfill other obligations, such as getting ISO 9000 certification."

But he adds a rejoinder: "I do consider that Pemex needs to review its administrative regulations to facilitate the participation of vendors. Most of the key projects in Mexico are offered as integrated bids that restrict the participation of companies with key technological solutions."

The new contracts will provide important business for Sofimex, one of Mexico's leading bonding agencies, Armando Rodríguez Elorduy, the company's general director said. "They involve large sums of money and long time-frames, which means the services offered by the bonding agencies will be of major relevance," Rodríguez said.

Pemex has long been a source of business for Sofimex because the state company's suppliers must by law provide bonds to guarantee their contracts. Sofimex achieved growth of 11 percent last year. While other firms have disappeared after a 10-year shakeout of the industry, Sofimex is now the fourth largest bond agency in Mexico and the third in terms of capital.

"Another aspect that has helped us to reach larger and more complex operations in the industry is the help of some of the most important brokers and risk management advisory firms found in the country, who have the experience and knowledge for this activity, says Rodríguez.

Pemex has a wide range of industry partners, some national companies that provide vital services, others international majors. All welcome the movement for change. All agree, the time to act is now.

Houston-based Tesco Corporation, the specialist in casing drilling, has established its Latin American headquarters in Mexico City. "Pemex is our leading client at a global level," says Hugo Alberto Morán, the general manager of Tesco's Latin America Business Unit." And, he adds: "The continuous development of the offshore fields, the deepwater projects, the challenges in the Chicontepec basin, the regeneration of mature fields … all of these generate great opportunities for investment."

Mr. David Ferrusquía, general manager, Turbomex

Mr. José Olarte, general manager, Legotec

Turbomex is a solid supporter of the changes in Mexico. The Mexico City-based company's turnover doubled to almost $20 million last year, "and the good times are yet to come," says the general manager, David Ferrusquia.

Founded in 1988, Turbomex found a niche in the engineering of offshore rigs in Campeche. "But from 2004 to 2010 we had tough times due to a decline in oil production in the area," says Ferrusquia, "but the slowdown caused us to leave and we had to move to onshore projects." We were also compelled to fulfill other obligations, such as getting ISO 9000 certification.

But the new investments that Pemex is making, as well as the changes that we have been making in our company internally, will involve us again in offshore projects and this highly motivates us.

"That and a growing interest in mining, where Turbomex has projects in Mexico, Peru and Chile, he concludes.

Some of the national companies have broadened their horizons. Reynosa-based Legotec is looking for international expansion. Already, Legotec has offices in the United States and Colombia.

"One of our main objectives is to position ourselves in international markets," says José Olarte, the company general director. "We have all the infrastructure, experience and knowledge to do it," he adds.

Legotec's core business is maintenance and refurbishment of tools for drilling rigs, but it also manufactures the tools themselves. "Some of our clients for the tools export them to other parts of the world. All the tools that we manufacture are inspected to API standards. Together with our clients, we have developed many projects. We have proven that we are a company that the industry can count on to develop any manufacturing job." Olarte says.

Deep Changes Ahead

Spearheaded by the three ultra-modern semi-submersible rigs -- Centenario, Bicentenario and West Pegasus -- Pemex is advancing on its deepwater goals.

Drilling is well under way, Carlos Morales Gil head of Pemex Exploration and Production said. "So far we have discovered a very significant gas province in deep water with the Lakach well, which we confirmed later on with Piklis, Noxal, and Nen. These are all new discoveries in Mexican deepwater.

"Based on that, we are building a broader-based portfolio by drilling three more wells: Kaxa, Kunah and Hux. We are in the process of drilling them, and as soon as we have more information, we will release the results.

"Afterwards, we are going to move north to drill additional wells in deeper waters greater than 2,000 meters. We have identified a target known as Supremus in the Perdido Belt, as well as what we call the sub-salt belt, west of Perdido."

Other prospects such as Trion and Maximino are close to the US maritime border and will be drilled in the later half of the year.

With an eye on the future, Mexico very recently signed a trans-border reservoir treaty with the United States. Any reservoirs that are found to cross the maritime border will be developed jointly in conjunction with partners in the US and with the holders of the reserves in the US.

Of the19 wells drilled in waters of more than 500 meters from 2001 to 2011, nine were producers. However, the biggest discovery is of natural gas, whose commercial viability has been questioned on the grounds of the plunge in prices caused by the emergence of cheap and readily available shale gas.

However, the sparse results from the investment are not surprising, says Miguel Labardini, a partner of the Marcos y asociados consultancy in Mexico City. "They are similar to those of the deepwater resources of other regions and countries that were first explored," said Labardini.

"It takes time, and Pemex is at a very great disadvantage. By Mexican law it cannot spread the risk as other companies readily do. That means that Pemex has to go a lot slower."

But can Pemex face the huge capital and technological challenge that deepwater exploration implies? For Jaime Buitrago, the former president of ExxonMobil Ventures Mexico , the answer is one that only Mexico itself can answer.

"It is up to Mexico to decide which regulatory framework to use to develop resources in deep water," says Buitrago. "Deepwater exploration is an obvious case of a difficult environment that requires not only the investment in technology and the qualified personnel, but where there is important risk with no guarantee of success for investments that, in the case of an exploration well, can be in the $150-200 million range.

The Shale Revolution Hits Mexico

Last year the US Energy Information Agency identified several countries as having very strong potential for shale gas production. Mexico was one of them, with more than 600 TCF identified.

"We also made our own assessment of the prospective resources and we identified not as much as the agency, but something in the order of 400 TCF. Whatever the difference is, it is still a huge potential," corrects Carlos Morales Gil, general director of Pemex upstream subsidiary.

"First of all, we started looking at the continuation of Eagle Ford into Mexican territory, and so far we have drilled two successful wells there," said Morales.

"We are drilling another three wells in order to identify the shale gas potential south of the border in the state of Coahuila, and we also have plans to drill in the state of Veracruz," said Morales.

Speed Merchants

"Speed is the secret of PYTCO’s success," says Jesús Martínez, the company's chief executive.

PYTCO, which makes 18,000 metric tons a month of carbon steel pipe with longitudinal welding by electrical resistance (EW-HFW), is very handily located in Monclova, Coahuila, says Jesús Martínez, the company's chief executive.

"We're practically right across the road from AHMSA, Mexico's biggest steel plant and only 250 kilometers south of the US border," Martínez adds.

"If someone anywhere in the world wants pipes in a couple of weeks' time, we can do it. Others might take three months."

What else contributes to your success?

We spend a lot of money on market research. We study how the markets are going for the raw materials being used in Korea, the US and China.

How much of your sales are to Pemex?

These days, PYTCO is heavily orientated towards exports. We supply 10 percent of our production to Pemex. The rest goes for export -- most of it to the US.

Our products are very well accepted in the U.S. market, and that is why we are currently undertaking new investments and increasing our offering.

Mr. Jesús Martínez, general director, PYTCO

Which kind of investments?

We are planning the installation of 3 mills that will increase our capacity considerably.

In what else are you involved?

PYTCO is involved in the Eagle Ford Shale natural gas project, as well as others in the southern US.

But the first shale-gas contracts are likely to take some time. Morales adds: " We have completed the first round for mature oil fields in the South. Now we are in the second round for mature fields in the North. Upcoming bids will be for several blocks in Chicontepec. Then the fourth round will be for deep water, and after we do everything I’ve mentioned, then we will move on to shale gas."

Meanwhile, however, the revolution in shale gas has caused some collateral damage to Mexico. On occasions, Pemex's production of some 6.5 billion cu/ft a day is having to be reduced because, at current prices, it makes no economic sense to produce conventional gas. "Low prices make the nation's industry much more competitive, but it also gives us many problems," says the Mexico City-based independent analyst David Shields.

"Mexico can produce shale gas, instead of importing it, but that would mean enormous challenges in terms of exploration, water availability and regulation," says Shields.

Morales does not underestimate the challenge but takes a more positive view.

"An additional challenge, not as a company but as a country, is to develop the gas market. We have to shift from the use of fuel oil to gas -- to shift from LPG to natural gas -- and this could take some time," he concludes.

Shipping industry sails out of doldrums

Mexico has more than 9,000 km of coastline but traditionally it has tended to turn its back on the oceans.

In an effort to reverse the tendency, the Mexican Maritime and Ports Council, known as Comport, was founded in 2011 to unite four existing organizations.

Mr. Luis Ocejo, senior managing director maritime, Business Grupo TMM

As the government proposes reforms in the posts and navigation laws, the industry now has a single voice in lobbying within the Mexican Congress, says Comport's president, Luis Ocejo.

Ocejo is also senior managing director of TMM Maritime, the Mexican industry leader. TMM has continued to produce strong financial results but the decline of Pemex production -- only recently stemmed -- has made life difficult at times.

However, new discoveries are increasing the demand for offshore vessels in order to develop exploration and TMM has been bolstered in 2010 by a $10.5 billion Mexican pesos (about $850 million at that time) financial package.

"It was a very good deal and we are very proud about it because it is the only shipping transaction in Mexico that was achieved under such conditions," says Ocejo.

TMM has a current fleet of 40 vessels, says Ocejo. "They include 27 offshore units, six product tankers, two chemical tankers and five tugs, out of which 39 are owned vessels and 37 bear the Mexican flag. It is also important to note that the average age of our fleet is less than 13 years."

"Pemex will require new technology and suitable infrastructure to carry out these activities," says Ocejo. "TMM is willing to continue investing in highly specialized tonnage, with state-of-the-art technology in order to support Pemex in facing this huge challenge.

"In fact, we have already begun."

Happy families

Mexico is very much a nation of families. A large number of Mexico's leading companies are run by descendants of their founders. They include such giants as Televisa, the largest media empire of the Spanish-speaking world, now run by Emilio Azcárraga, the third chief executive of the group, whose father and grandfather had the same name and same role.

Energy, in general terms, is an exception, because it is controlled by the state companies, Pemex, and the Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE.

Even there, one can see connections. Jesús Reyes-Heroles was the chief executive of Pemex for the first half of the current administration of Pemex. His father, of the same name, was one of Mexico's most distinguished politicians and the head of Pemex between 1964 and 1970.

But the tradition of family-based companies remains strong with the private sector in energy.

Construcciones Industriales Tapia is very much a family firm, founded by Juan Carlos Tapia and his sister Fabiola 15 years ago in central Mexico.

Since then the family has grown in every sense of the word. "We started with six workers and four welding machines. Now we have 2,200 employees, a production capacity of 27,000 tons a year and a 45-acre plant," said Juan Carlos Tapia, the founder and general director.

A Kick Start for Petrochemicals

The Mexican petrochemicals industry, dominated by the state company, Pemex, promises to shrug off years of lethargy.

Low production, mothballed plants and a booming trade deficit in chemicals and petrochemicals have been the hallmarks for the industry over the last two decades.

The most recent attempt to inject private capital to revive the sector was during the 2000-2006 administration of President Vicente Fox. The Fenix project was intended to build a 1.2 million tons ethylene cracker and associated plants, but it failed to fly.

Mr. Roberto Bischoff, general director of Braskem Idesa

This time round, the reshaped project, now called Etileno XXI, has new partners, Braskem, the Brazilian leader in Latin American petrochemicals, and Idesa, one of Mexico's leading business groups with a strong tradition in petrochemicals. And this time, both Pemex and the private-sector partners have reached agreement on the long-term pricing of the feedstock.

The investment in the Etileno XXI venture is reckoned to be some $3.2 billion and the project aims to make an impact of $1.5 to $2 billion a year on Mexico's trade balance and is slated to come on stream in 2015.

"This is a very important project for Mexico, for Mexican society and the Mexican community, because it represents a kind of rebirth of the petrochemical industry in Mexico. For decades we have not seen any important investment, just small investments, especially in maintaining the existing infrastructure and the existing capacity, but not focused on adding new capacity and new products," says Roberto Bischoff, general director of Braskem-Idesa.

The new-found flexibility of Pemex in its relations with the private sector reflects the 2008 Mexican energy reforms. Another example is the $566 million investment in a joint venture between the state company and Mexico City-based Mexichem, now rapidly emerging as a world leader in PVC piping and refrigerants.

And the family has widened to include clients from a who's who of leading international companies involved in the Mexican construction sector, including the Texas-based Maverick, and Switzerland-based Foster Wheeler, Mexican-US joint venture ICA-Fluor Daniel, Spain's Dragados Industriales, Korea's Samsung Engineering and many more, including, of course, Pemex.

"We are not opposed to the arrival of multinationals. Quite the contrary, we can do great things together with them," said Tapia.

Another company is heading in the opposite direction. One of the many family firms in the Mexican oil industry is Grupo Well, based in Poza Rica but with offices in all the key locations. But the group is undertaking a big change, explains the general manager, Oscar García.

"We are trying to professionalize the group, says García. "We aim to make this a professionally managed consortium."

Under the new regime, the group offers a one-stop shop of services for companies that want to work in Mexico or already operate there. The group has six affiliates, in consultancy, human relations, industrial cleaning, residential and office cleaning, legal services and information technology.

One of the services that is in most demand is human relations, where Mexico's labor laws can be a challenge to newcomers. Lower costs and superior know-how give Grupo Well an advantage over its foreign competitors, García says.

The general director of OPC the rising star of the building and refitting of petrochemicals plants, based in Coatzacoalcos, the Mexican petrochemicals hub, is Jorge Arboleya Pastrana.

OPC Ingeniería y Construcción, which has been heavily involved with development in Pemex petrochemicals projects in recent years, began with a harbor works. OPC's portfolio of integrated projects include several for the Pemex petrochemicals and refinery subsidiaries. Now it is taking part in the construction of a tunnel under the River Coatzacoalcos to link the city and the petrochemical plants.

Mr. Jorge Arboleya, general director, OPC

Mr. Oscar García, general manager, Grupo Well.

An outstanding engineer, Arboleya married in Coatzacoalcos, where his father-in-law was a founder of the original harbor works firm. Given his ability, Arboleya soon arrived at the top of OPC with or without the family connection, but OPC has leveraged his local connections to win what Arboleya describes as "very successful partnerships with companies such as Royal Boskalis Westminister and Ballast Nedam, both of the Netherlands, Grupo Diavaz in Mexico, Spain's FCC and Simon Carves Engineering of the UK, and several more," Arboleya adds.

Another kind of family.

Research and Learning

Education and research, based in the practical experience of highly skilled work, is provided by COMIMSA.

COMIMSA, whose full moniker is the Mexican Corporation for Materials Research, plays a dual role, according to its director general, José Antonio Lazcano Ponce.

At the same time, COMIMSA -- based in the northern city of Saltillo, Coahuila -- is both a limited company and a major research institute that forms a unit of Conacyt, Mexico's National Council for Science and Technology.

Foreign relations

Like a young soccer pro snapped up by a top European club, COBSA was initially reticent when the quality of its work for Pemex drew the attention of the Mexican unit of Germany's H. Rosen, a worldwide leader in pipeline inspection services.

As relative newcomers to the industry, COBSA was doubtful about the prospects for an alliance with such a major player. "But we convinced them that we could create effective synergies working together," said Telésforo Segura, general director.

Born in 1999 as a general construction company, COBSA has become a leading specialist in pipeline building and maintenance. "The oil and gas sector provides about 90 percent of our business," says Segura.

Mr. Telésforo Segura, general director, COBSA

Apart from H.Rosen, with which other foreign firms do you have links? Only last year, Rosen joined forces with the UK's Macaw Engineering, specialists in integrated analysis of the inspection of repaired or constructed pipelines, replied Segura. The new alliance opened up our company's horizons.

Which new horizons? COBSA has opened a new niche, the integral maintenance of tanks, including inspection and analysis.

And what about business with Pemex? COBSA is currently developing three projects that are the largest undertaken for a decade by the Pemex refining subsidiary and will last to from three to four and a half years. One project involves the maintenance of 11 port terminals; a second involves 760 kilometers from Veracruz State in the southern Gulf to Cadereyta near the north Mexican industrial capital of Monterrey.

Is finance not a problem? As in all sectors of Mexican industry, financing can be difficult for all but the largest Mexican companies. But we generate confidence in our equipment suppliers. That gave us the flexibility we needed. And the Mexican export bank, Bancomext, is one of the great growth driving forces of our company.

As a research and educational establishment, last year it had 107 postgraduate students in areas such as industrial engineering and advanced manufacturing. In addition, it provided training for more than 2,800 workers from a wide range of companies.

Mr. José Lazcano, general director, COMIMSA

As a commercial business, COMIMSA has played a big role in several projects. For Pemex, it provided the basic engineering for the revamp of an ethylene plant in Veracruz, and the design engineering of cryogenic plants at Reynosa, near the Texas border.

"We've also worked on the development of security inspections of 74 Pemex offshore rigs and 58 of its processing plans and storage facilities," said Lazcano. In addition, COMIMSA has provided Pemex services for the rehabilitation and manufacture of gas turbines for its refineries and oil rigs. It has developed environmental risk analysis for the Burgos natural gas basin in northern Mexico.

Specialist services in areas such as metallurgy, trouble-shooting, corrosion and mechanical tests have been provided not only to Pemex but to the general energy, manufacturing, auto, construction, steel and mining industries.

Cangrejera Petrochemical Complex in Coatzacoalcos Veracruz. Courtsey of Pemex

COMIMSA has dozens of technical accords and alliances with other Mexican public-sector institutions as well as in the United States, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Ukraine.

Because it has to pay its way in the world, COMIMSA cannot stand still. "The only way we can achieve our goals as a public research institute, is by providing the resources that we ourselves generate," says Lazcano.