On March 25, 2022, the National Hydrocarbons Commission ("CNH") sent to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement ("CONAMER") the Draft of the "Order through which the Guidelines for Assignments, Corporate Amendments, and Liens are issued" (the “Draft”).

The Draft was approved during the Extraordinary Meeting of the Governing Body of the CNH on March 8, 2022, and its purpose is to repeal the current regulation that establishes the requirements to enter into alliances or associations which result in the change of corporate or management control under contracts for exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons.

According to the terms of the Draft, the CNH is seeking to capitalize experiences obtained during these years.
Below is a list of the main changes proposed in the Draft:

The definition of corporate and management control is expanded to include indirect control, up to the level of the company through which the contractor or the participating company has accredited the corresponding technical and financial capabilities;

In addition, the Draft includes the definition of the entities that constitute creditors or lenders, to regulate further requirements for creating liens in their favor;

The deemed approval (afirmativa ficta) by the Ministry of Energy ("SENER") within the assignment authorization procedure is removed. Previously, in case the SENER did not express its opinion within a term of 20 business days in the assignment authorization requests, they were deemed as favorable;

Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, the CNH may request further information from the contractor only once and within 10 business days of receipt of the request. On the other hand, the Contractors or the participating companies shall have a term of 7 business days from the date in which the notification of the requirement becomes effective in order to submit the missing information;

New formats for the submission of information are included;

The obligation to inform the CNH of any change in the capital stock of the company, whether fixed or variable, is established; and

As noted above, certain restrictions are included for the type of creditors that can create liens and the rights they may obtain thereunder. Note that lenders are limited to financial institutions, required to submit statements about their capabilities and experience. Moreover, the financing should be limited to resources for the actual execution of the project.