Auction for offshore Mexico acreage attracts significant interest

The auction for exploration rights to 29 deepwater areas in the Mexican Gulf has attracted strong interest from individual operating companies and from consortia.

 

The Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) recently announced the list of approved the bidders for Round 2.4, and the list includes nine individual companies and 17 bidding in consortium. In total, 26 bidders from 16 countries will participate.

 

The sale, on the 31st January, is the latest and largest round in a series of auctions for exploration rights following the deregulation of the Mexican energy market which began in 2014.

 

Analysts report that the recent increase in global oil prices may also be making the upcoming sale a more attractive proposition for potential bidders.

 

The individual companies who registered to bid in the auction are:

 

* BHP Billiton (Australia)

* China Offshore Oil Corp. (China)

* ExxonMobil (United States)

* Noble Energy Mexico (United States)

* Pemex (Mexico)

* PC Carigali (Petronas) (Malaysia)

* Shell (Netherlands)

* Statoil (Norway)

* Total (France).

 

The consortia who bid for licences are:

 

* BP and Statoil (United Kingdom and Norway)

* BP, Statoil and Total (United Kingdom, Norway and France)

* Chevron and PEMEX (United States and Mexico)

* Chevron, PEMEX and Inpex (United States, Pemex and Japan)

* Chevron, PEMEX and ONGC Videsh Limited (United States, Mexico and India)

* China Offshore Oil Corporation and PC Carigali (Petronas) (China and Malaysia)

* Eni, Qatar Petroleum International and Citla Energy (Italy, Qatar and Mexico)

* Eni and Qatar Petroleum International (Italy and Qatar)

* Noble Energy, Deutsche Erdoel (United States and Germany)

* Noble Energy, Deutsche Erdoel and Pemex (United States, Mexico and Germany)

* Pemex and China Offshore Oil Corp (Mexico and China)

* PC Carigali (Petronas), Ophir and PTTEP (Malaysia, United Kingdom and Thailand)

* Repsol and PC Carigali (Petronas) (Spain and Malaysia)

* Repsol, PC Carigali (Petronas) and PTTEP (Spain, Malaysia and Thailand)

* Repsol, Qatar Petroleum International and Ophir (Spain, Malaysia and United Kingdom)

* Shell and Pemex (Netherland and Mexico)

* Shell and Qatar Petroleum International (Netherlands and Qatar).