The Mexican National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) has confirmed the cancellation of the next two oil and gas onshore bid rounds (rounds 3.2 and 3.3, namely Segunda y Tercera Licitación de la Ronda Tres) scheduled for February 2019, which would have offered nine unconventional onshore blocks with wet and dry gas. The CNH has also postponed a farmout tender for stakes in acreage held by the national oil company Pemex until October 2019. Interested bidders have until July 2019 to pre-qualify and once selected, they will form joint ventures (JVs) with Pemex. The farmout tender will include onshore oil and gas blocks in the states of Veracruz, Chiapas and Tabasco.
This announcement makes official what had been pledged by the government earlier in December 2018. The cancellation of rounds 3.2 and 3.3 will give more time for revising the domestic energy policy and for evaluating all the existing exploration and extraction contracts before awarding new concessions.
Mexico's crude oil output is flagging and declined from 3.4 mb/d in 2005 to 1.88 mb/d in the first half of 2018. The main drivers behind this decline are the natural depletion of oil fields and a lack of investment. In order to reverse this trend, the government plans to add 0.6 mb/d in the next two years to reach 2.5 mb/d.
Do you want to become an expert on renewable energies auctions?
Discover our very detailed and regularly updated RES auctions database with worldwide coverage and a technical focus backed by academic research.
With our renewable energies auctions service you will be able to monitor auctions at a global level. Its (expanding) scope notably includes all major G20 countries and offers an especially fine tracking on Europe and South America.