The oil and gas company Shell has won nine key blocks in the last Mexican deepwater bid round through its local subsidiary Shell Exploración y Extracción de México, of which four on its own, one with the Mexican company Pemex and four with its partner Qatar Petroleum International. Shell will have the operatorship for all the blocks, which have a total area of 18,996 km2.
In total, the Mexican authorities have awarded 19 of the 29 oil and gas blocks that have been put up for auction. The tender was the largest since the 2013-2014 energy sector reforms, which ended Pemex's monopoly in the oil and gas sector. Little deepwater offshore drilling has been done in the country so far because the state-run oil and gas company Pemex lacks the specialist technology needed as well as the required funds. The planned tender will target the prolific Perdido Fold Belt and will be concentrated in three areas.