Mexico pre-qualifies 26 firms for deepwater tender

OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2016.  Mexico has pre-qualified 26 oil companies to participate in a 5 December tender for 10 deepwater exploration and development blocks.

For the first time since a sweeping energy reform ended its upstream monopoly in 2014, Mexico's state-run Pemex has applied to participate. The company is likely to take part as a minority partner in a consortium operated by a more experienced, better-equipped partner.

The list of pre-qualified operating companies includes Australia's BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Shell, Italy's ENI, ExxonMobil, Spain's Repsol, Norway's Statoil, France's Total, Chinese state-run CNOOC and Pemex.

The list of independent companies approved to participate as operators includes US-based Atlantic Rim, Hess, Murphy and Noble Energy, and Turkmenistan's PC Carigali.

Non operators, for which bidding requirements were more flexible, include Portugal's Galp; Japan's Inpex, Mitsubishi and Mitsui; Russia's Lukoil; India's ONGC; the UK's Ophir; Petro-Canada; Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras; and Mexican independent Sierra.

The tender is the fourth and final bidding process in Mexico's historic first upstream round that started in December 2015. A second round of staggered tenders started last month.

The deepwater blocks up for bid hold a total estimated 10.6bn of oil equivalent (boe).

Mexico hopes the break-up of Pemex's monopoly will eventually reverse a decade-old decline in crude production.

In July, the latest available data, Pemex produced 2.157mn b/d, down 5pc from a year earlier.

The final terms of the deepwater license contracts and bidding requirements will be published on 31 August.