Petronas sweeps six of 19 blocks awarded in Mexico oil auction

MEXICO CITY: Royal Dutch Shell snapped up nine of 19 Gulf of Mexico oil and gas blocks awarded in a Mexican auction on Wednesday, as the global oil major raised its big bet on Latin America’s deep waters.
Aside from Shell, the biggest winners were Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), which participated in six winning bids, and Qatar Petroleum, which participated in five. Some firms bid alone, and others in consortiums.
PC Carigali Mexico Ventures, a unit of Petronas, won two blocks alone and four in consortiums.
“We’re in, we want to explore and we want to find oil and gas,” said Faisal Bakar, PC Carigali’s country manager in Mexico.
Mexican officials estimated the auction, the most important since the country’s energy sector opened to foreign firms in 2014, could bring US$93 billion (RM156 billion) in investment to the country as oil firms develop the areas they won.
Mexican officials called the auction a success. Ahead of the bid round, the government had said it expected only seven of the 29 blocks on offer to be awarded. In the end, 19 were awarded. Ten blocks received no bids, so were not awarded.
With oil prices at a three-year high, conditions were better for this auction than any of the previous eight sales in Mexico since 2015.
Shell also won blocks in Brazil’s Atlantic waters just three months ago, which require heavy investment.
“We wanted a presence in both countries,” said Alberto de la Fuente, president of Shell Mexico. “We are a big player in deep water worldwide. This is excellent news for Mexico and is a strong commitment for Shell in Mexico.” – Reuters