Mexico's president Felipe Calderon is struggling to push through extensive economic and regulatory reforms to resuscitate the country's energy industry.

Reuters reports that the country's political deadlock is hampering Calderon's effort to promote the sweeping reforms ahead of the 2012 elections.

Among the reforms is a proposal to allow foreign direct investment in oil and gas production to help the company's national energy firm, Pemex, explore deepwater prospects in the Gulf of Mexico.

Currently, the company has neither the technical expertise nor the capital to conduct deepwater exploration effectively, the news agency reports.

And in order to build this capacity, Calderon is also promoting reforms in labour laws that will spur new training initiatives designed to encourage job creation.

According to the Energy Information Administration, Mexico is the second biggest supplier to the US oil and gas market, but due to a lack of new exploration, average production is in a steady downward trend.

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