The 2012 U.S.-Mexico Agreement on Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico: A Blueprint for Progress or a Recipe for Conflict?

This Article is divided into four parts. Parts I and II describe each of the four previous U.S.-Mexico maritime delimitation treaties of 1970, 1976, 1978, and 2000. These treaties represent different degrees of progress in the process of completing the maritime boundaries that geographical contiguity imposes upon these contiguous countries. This was a slow and careful process that spanned almost half a century.

Part III analyzes the 2012 U.S.-Mexico Agreement on Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico from an international law perspective, with special reference to the interests of the United States and Mexico. Finally, Part IV advances a number of conclusions.