UPDATE 1-Mexico ruling party mulls separate energy bill

(Recasts, updates with comments from lawmakers, officials)

By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY, March 6 (Reuters) - The ruling conservative party, which wants the Mexican state oil monopoly to partner with foreign companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, will submit such a proposal if it cannot agree with opposition parties on a joint energy bill, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday.

Many in President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, want a new energy law to include a clause permitting state monopoly Pemex to form alliances with foreign companies to speed up entry into the crucial deepwater oil sector.

Mexico lacks the technology to drill deepwater wells, and analysts say the fastest way to get it would be through private partnerships.

Leftists oppose joint ventures and want to keep the law that gives Pemex sole rights to extract Mexican oil. Signs of backtracking by a third opposition party could make a consensus harder to reach within the Senate energy commitee.

"We are going to make every effort to put out a consensus proposal," said PAN Sen. Ruben Camarillo, a secretary of the committee. "If we don't arrive at a consensus then each parlimentary group would be free to make a proposal that suits it," he told Reuters by telephone.

Camarillo said a PAN proposal could be submitted independently of any bill Calderon might decide to submit before the congressional session wraps up on April 30.

"It seems incongruous for lawmakers to sit with their arms folded," he said.