AmericasOffshore

Shell comes out top in Mexico’s offshore oil lease auction with nine blocks

Royal Dutch Shell picked up nine of 19 blocks that were awarded in the latest round of Mexico’s offshore oil and gas lease rights auctions, according to Reuters.

The Anglo-Dutch supermajor made its winning bids on blocks in the Perdido (five blocks) and Salina (four) basins in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell won four of its blocks as a lone bidder, four more in a consortium with Qatar Petroleum and one more in partnership with Mexico’s state oil firm Pemex.

Of the other successful bidders, PC Carigali led the way with six blocks. The firm, which is a unit of Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas, won four in consortia and two more as lone bidder.

Designated as Mexico’s Round 2.4 deep-water lease auction, the event raised $500 million and that was with 10 other blocks remaining unsold.

This was Mexico’s second offshore auction since Pemex’s monopoly grip was loosened in 2014.

Another auction is scheduled for June and possibly one more before year’s end although that is conditional on the outcome of the Presidential election in Mexico.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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