in its first ever public bidding phase for oil and
gas blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission
said only two of the 14 blocks on the shopping
window were awarded.
The consortium made up of Sierra Oil and Gas,
Talos Energy and Premier Oil was the day’s only
winner, having been awarded Areas 2 and 7
among the 14 shallow water blocks on offer.
The two awarded blocks appeared to have been
the most attractive as Hunt Overseas Oil made
losing bids on both, while the bids of Statoil and
two consortias were rejected for Area 7.
Murphy Worldwide and Petronas teamed up for
bids for Areas 3 and 4, but they were both
rejected as being too low. India’s ONGC Videsh
tabled a bid for Area 6, but was also rejected.
Finally, nine of the areas received no bids, thus
being declared as deserted and Area 6 as
abandoned.
Carlos Zepeda, President Commissioner of NHC,
said that Area 2 contains estimated reserves of
between 142 million and 341 million barrels of
oil, with Area 7 having an estimated reserve of
102 million barrels.
Prior to the results, he had forecasted that
Mexico could expect a total investment
averaging 1.3 billion U.S. dollars per block.
Analysts say the poor turnout will deal a blow to
the aspirations of the government of President
Pena Nieto, who had made the Energy Reform a
cornerstone of his political legacy.
Doubts about the potential of this 1st phase of
round one began circling last week when four
companies that had prequalified for the bids
dropped out without giving reasons.
A Mexican national oil company, PEMEX, pulled
out of the running last Friday, saying it would
wait to bid for deepwater blocks later in the year.
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