Mexico

Mexico’s historic public tender for its deepwater real estate resulted in the awarding of eight out of 10 blocks on offer.

The opening of Mexico’s oil and gas sector was a landmark moment in the industry, but despite the potential upside, the uncertainty and risk surrounding unfamiliar offshore territory in a volatile price market kept many potential investors at bay.

Of all the attention generated over the opening of the Mexican oil and gas sector to the outside world, one consideration has been largely left out of the discussion: What does it all mean for service companies?

The deepwater blocks Mexico plans to lease to international operators in December are among the deepest, most remote, and geologically challenging in the world. But the difficulties of developing these areas will start onshore, where adequate and secure port facilities are few and far between.

Each of the 25 onshore blocks offered to private companies in Mexico’s December auction were awarded, almost all of which went to Mexican companies.

Mexico’s second oil and gas lease auction has been deemed a success after three out of five shallow-water blocks were awarded in September. The awarded areas contain an estimated 236 million bbl of oil and 190 Bcf of gas.

In June, Mexico’s national oil company Pemex announced its largest discoveries of oil and gas in 5 years. Located in the shallow-water basin of the Gulf of Mexico offshore Tabasco and Campeche, the four new fields are estimated to hold 350 million bbl of oil.

During the 10-year period between 2003 and 2013, Mexico drilled 30 deep- and ultradeepwater wells in water depths ranging from 512 to 2900 m.

In 2010, exploration of gas-rich and possibly liquid-rich shale reservoirs began in northern Mexico. A two-stage integrated workflow was developed to achieve set objectives.