Chevron has joined forces with Petroleos Mexicanos and Japan’s Inpex Corp. to bid next week for the right to explore for oil and natural gas, the first time the state-owned operator will partner with private companies to develop crude in the Gulf of Mexico.
Seven groups and eight individual bidders have been qualified to participate in the Dec. 5 auctions that include the Trion field joint-venture with Pemex and 10 other deepwater blocks, Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission announced in Mexico City on Monday. The regulator didn’t specify which bids were for the joint venture or for the other areas.
Total joined forces with BP and Norway’s Statoil in one group, and with Exxon Mobil in another. Eni and Lukoil also joined up, and Anadarko Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell formed another group.
"We are attracting investment and technology in deep waters, where a large part of our national reserves are located," Hector Moreira, Commissioner at the Mexico Oil Regulator and former Pemex board member, said Monday. "We have attracted some of the largest companies in the world that have the technology and investment capacities to develop those resources."
Sweeter Terms
The Mexican government made a series of adjustments to sweeten the terms of the Joint Operating Agreement that Petroleos Mexicanos will sign with potential partners to develop Trion field.
Landing a major producer as a partner will signal the beginning of a new era for Mexico’s reeling oil giant. Burdened with nearly $100 billion in financial debt and a 12-year slump in crude output, Pemex has pointed to partnerships as the road to its salvation since the government ended the company’s 76-year production monopoly in 2014.
"We think the offer and opportunity are good enough for Trion to be awarded," Pablo Medina, an oil and energy analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said in a phone interview. "The key to Trion being awarded was the willingness to change the JOA and the conditions of the contract. Becoming Pemex’s first partner could create goodwill down the road as the industry continues to open."
Mexican upstart Sierra Oil & Gas, which has backing from private equity firms Riverstone Holdings and BlackRock Inc., and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd, or Petronas, have joined forces in one group as well as another that includes Murphy Oil and Ophir Energy. BHP Billiton and China’s CNOOC will participate individually.
"Many of the companies that are participating in this bidding have been in Mexico with a permanent office in Mexico for decades waiting for this moment," Juan Carlos Zepeda, National Hydrocarbons Commissioner, said in a Nov. 22 interview in Mexico City. "We have very serious players and there is great expectation."
Source: Global Update
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