Mexico centrists like oil contract plan, eye graft

MEXICO CITY, July 9 (Reuters) - A key Mexican opposition party could back a central part of a government plan to boost private investment in oil drilling, but wants tweaks to the proposal to prevent corruption, a lawmaker said on Wednesday.

President Felipe Calderon, a conservative, has presented his oil reform plan to the divided Congress as a way to reverse a decline in crude output in the world's No. 6 producer.

A key measure would allow state oil company Pemex to sign performance-based contracts with private firms. It would apply across the oil industry, but is largely aimed at speeding up drilling at potentially huge deep-water oil fields.

Sen. Carlos Lozano, a member of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, told Reuters his party agreed with the spirit of the measure but viewed it as "too open-ended."

"It can be perfected," said Lozano, who sits on the Senate energy committee which is holding televised debates on Calderon's proposal following stiff opposition from leftists.

The measure would give Pemex much greater leeway to work with private companies in oil production and exploration by offering cash incentives for good performance.

Lozano, speaking to Reuters at a government conference, said the PRI was worried the plan could increase corruption in Pemex, which has a history of being riddled by graft.

"We would be increasing that. We need to add some controls," Lozano said, adding that the PRI had not decided exactly what changes it would seek to the clause.

Opposition from leftist lawmakers has bogged down Calderon's oil plan, submitted in April, and Congress has invited in outside experts to discuss ways to overhaul the struggling oil sector.