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Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, speaking to energy executives, attorneys and academics at Rice University on Friday, said that Petróleos Mexicanos   known as Pemex  gathered overwhelming debt loads in recent years and has since accumulated huge losses†during the oil price downturn.

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Pemex finances are really suffering,†Coldwell said. They've taken a huge blow.â€

Unlike most integrated oil companies, such as Exxon and Chevron, Pemex didn't benefit from both producing oil and refining it, as others have. Its refineries, Coldwell said, have been hampered by deficient operations.â€

Coldwell said that the sweeping, multi-year reform of Mexico's energy sector, however, should help Pemex pull out of the doldrums. The government has rewritten sections of the Mexican constitution to give the country more flexibility in energy production, transportation, sales and regulation. The reform has already given Pemex the authority to renegotiate labor contracts. For instance, it owes more than $50 billion in accumulated retirement debt, Coldwell said, and has started renegotiating to lower payments.

Meanwhile, the government has injected millions of dollars into the company to keep it afloat, he said.

Mexican politicians passed energy reform legislation three years ago. At the time, electricity rates were 25 percent higher than U.S. rates, Coldwell said, and the country, which had kicked out foreign oil companies decades prior, was running out of oil and gas.

Energy reform has since attracted $22.4 billion in investment commitments over 70 contracts from 59 different private companies, Coldwell reported.

Those have included $10 billion for 10,000 kilometers of pipelines, $7 billion in exploration and production, and $2.5 billion toward the creation of new seismic maps, tracking untapped oil and gas reservoirs.

More than three-quarters of the prospective resources are in deep water or unconventional wells - wells most often hydraulicly fractured to release oil and gas. To access such reserves, the country needs access to drilling technology and financial resources not now available in Mexico,†he said.

To restart the country's stalled energy market, Mexico needs help, Coldwell said.