(Adds details on oil cooperation, Petrocaribe and Mexicobackground)
By John Myers Jr.
KINGSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Mexico is looking into ways todeepen energy cooperation with Jamaica, Foreign Minister LuisVidegaray said on Tuesday on a Caribbean trip to promoteU.S.-backed efforts to erode Venezuela's diplomatic influence.
Videgaray said he was hoping to get more Mexican firms tocome to Jamaica as suppliers of oil and as potential investorsin developing Jamaican oil resources.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announcedthat Mexico, Canada and the United States were looking at how tomitigate the effect sanctions on OPEC-member Venezuela wouldhave in the Caribbean. who visited St. Lucia before Jamaica, said deeperMexican-Jamaican energy ties could serve as a model elsewhere inthe island region.
"Whatever we do in Jamaica can be a learning experience forwhat we do with other Caribbean countries," he said, withoutdirectly mentioning efforts to weaken Venezuela's support amongcountries grateful for past oil largesse.
While Jamaica no longer imports Venezuelan crude, it was afounding member of the South American nation's Petrocaribeprogram that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations.
The legacy of the program has helped Venezuela win votes inthe Organization of American States to defeat motions againstPresident Nicolas Maduro, whose socialist government hasoverseen an economic crisis in Venezuela.
Mexico's oil output has fallen sharply and the energyministry has said it would be difficult for the country toreplace Petrocaribe.
"We are a market-based economy and any kind of cooperationthat we do, and any business that we foster, is according tomarket principles," said Videgaray, standing next to hisJamaican counterpart Kamina Johnson Smith.
He added Mexico would be signing a memorandum ofunderstanding to provide technical support to Jamaica's oilrefinery, Petrojam, which is jointly owned by a unit ofVenezuelan national oil company PDVSA.
Jamaica already buys spot cargos of crude from Mexico, amajor oil supplier to the United States.
Mexico has been gradually opening up its oil sectorfollowing a constitutional reform in 2013 that ended decades ofmonopoly control by national oil company Pemex. Its ability tomaximize crude processing has been hobbled, however, by littlenew investment, accidents and natural disasters.