Mexico's state oil company wants to become a modern oil giant with foreign help.
It was unclear whether talks were still going on between the oil giants.
It was the oil giant's best quarterly performance ever, and the company's stock rose.
The oil giant also said it would sell more than $700 million worth of its domestic properties in the next two years.
The oil giant has been paying about $8.85 a share.
Meanwhile, the oil giant cut this year's capital spending about 10 percent, to $6.5 billion.
Dudley could carry the oil giant in a new direction.
ChevronTexaco, the oil giant, would have been a partner in the project.
Doing so would mean persuading the oil giants to make huge investments.
But later, Washington criticized the sale of the oil giant.