Mexico’s state oil firm Pemex on Monday said last week’s cancellation of a planned tender for a joint venture in the Gulf of Mexico was because of the low price of oil and competition from Brazil auctions, according to Reuters.
Last Thursday, Mexico’s oil industry regulator CNH (Comisio Nacional de Hidrocarburos) called off the tender, which was intended to provide a partner for Pemex in developing the Maximino-Nobilis block, which had been planned for 31 January, 2018. The reason given was that there was a lack of takers.
Pemex claimed that an October auction of deep-water sites off of Brazil, in which six of eight blocks were awarded to majors, contributed to the lukewarm take-up of Maximino-Nobilis.
It also claimed low oil prices were a factor in companies backing away from the Pemex farm-out.
After around seven decades of Pemex enjoying a monopoly on domestic oil production, Mexico has been opening up its oil industry to outside investment since 2013 as part of energy reform measures aimed at increasing the sector’s productivity.