OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2014. The Mexican government's opening of its oil and gas industry is attracting major interest from investors worldwide, including companies from China and Singapore, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.

After passing a reform in December to end a 75-year oil and gas monopoly held by state oil producer Pemex PEMX.UL, President Enrique Pena Nieto last week sent to Congress so-called secondary laws that will flesh out the rules for the shake-up of the industry.

Guajardo said companies from all around the globe had been following the government's efforts to open up the world's 10th biggest producer of crude oil to investors.

"Basically, Singaporean companies, Chinese companies, European companies, Norway, the Americas, the U.S. obviously. There is a lot of interest," he told Reuters television in Paris.

He did not give further details but said investors had been very eager to see the energy secondary laws emerge.

The government had hoped to pass the secondary laws before the most recent session of Congress ended on April 30, but disputes with the opposition delayed the process.

Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, now hopes to win approval of the legislation by the end of June.