HOUSTON—BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) is eager to use its decades of deepwater experience on the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

BHP Billiton, already a leader on the U.S. side of the GoM, entered an agreement in September to collaborate with Mexico’s Pemex to share technical knowledge, information, experience and practices.

The Australian company hopes to build a relationship with the state-owned company as acreage begins opening up to international competition through the country’s ongoing energy reforms, said Steve Pastor, asset president, conventional, BHP Billiton, earlier this month at Hart Energy’s Offshore Executive Conference.

“We’re quite anxious to see what we can do down there, whether farming in to Pemex, discovery opportunities, exploration opportunities or things of that nature,” Pastor said.

BHP Billiton has years of experience delivering deepwater projects going back to the mid-1970s, he said.

The company boasts the first ever FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) facility named Argyll in the U.K., and in the following years went on to deliver many more deepwater field developments offshore Western Australia.

“One of the things that we think categorizes us, and is particularly important as we’re talking about offshore technology and deepwater capability, is our track record in delivering world-class projects around the world,” he said.

During the last decade, BHP Billiton has delivered several major offshore projects in Western Australia, the U.K., the U.S. GoM and soon in Trinidad. The company’s top two projects are in the GoM with Shenzi and Neptune platforms.

The company is exceptionally proud of Shenzi, he said. Not only has the project been ahead of schedule and under budget, but the facility has remained at full nameplate capacity of 100,000 barrels per day for more than five years.

The company’s advantage in drilling deepwater wells is proven by its consistent operational uptime, he said.

BHP Billiton’s drilling times are below the industry average with an average operated facility uptime of about 96%, he said. Additionally, the company has a remarkable time performance across the sweep of its operated assets averaging about 95%.

“It’s making sure you have the right tool for the job, excellence in rig capability, the right crew, the right procedures. Every bit of that to squeeze as much as you can out of it,” he said.

BHP Billiton’s petroleum assets constitute about 25-30% of the value of the overall corporation, which also focuses on producing major commodities around the globe.

“BHP Billiton Petroleum conventional assets are still the foundation for that business contributing a little more than half of the volume or a lion share of the profits and virtually all of the free cash flow,” he said.

The company’s petroleum business includes onshore positions in North American shale plays, Algeria, Pakistan and the U.K.

The business generates around 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day with a pretty health mix of liquids and gas in the portfolio. The assets also have contributed more than $6 billion in earnings and $4.5-5 billion in free cash flow year over year, he said.

“It’s a great place to be in particular with prices under pressure,” he said. “We still think that it’s going to be a solid as a rock force for the next few years.”