The Mexican hydrocarbon regulator, National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), has approved contracts and auction terms for a dozen of onshore oil and gas field, as part of the Round Two tender to be bid out in 2017; winners will be announced on 7 April 2017. The fields are located in the Burgos basin, in the south-east basin and in the southern state of Chiapas. Seven of the blocks are for exploration and production, while five blocks are for exploration. The CNH also announced that 26 companies, including BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Galp Energia, Lukoil, Mitsubishi, ONGC, Petrobras, Shell and Total, had pre-qualified for the auction; 16 companies are operators (including Pemex) and 10 are financial partners.
In July 2016, the CNH approved contracts and auction terms for 15 shallow water blocks in the southern Gulf of Mexico, launching the first phase of the Round Two tender ("2.1 round"). The 15 shallow water blocks, located off the coasts of Vera Cruz, Tabasco and Campeche, hold nearly 650 mboe of crude oil in proven reserves.
In 2013, the monopoly of Pemex over domestic oil production paved the way for private and foreign producers to invest in Mexico, in an attempt to reverse declining oil production.