NST Business
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas emerged as one of the major winners in Mexico’s auction of 19 oil and gas blocks on Wednesday, winning six blocks, wire agencies reported yesterday.
Of the six, two blocks were awarded to Petronas unit PC Carigali alone, while the other four were in alliance with other companies, Reuters and AFP reported.
The blocks are all located off the state of Tamaulipas, on Mexico's northeastern coast.
"We're in, we want to explore and we want to find oil and gas," said Faisal Bakar, Carigali's country manager in Mexico.
Royal Dutch Shell won nine of the blocks — four as a lone bidder, four in a consortium with Qatar Petroleum, and one in association with the state oil giant Petroleos de Mexico (Pemex).
Pemex won four blocks, two alone and two in consortium with other companies.
Mexican officials estimated the auction, the most important since the country's energy sector opened to foreign firms in 2014, could bring US$93 billion in investment to the country as oil firms develop the areas they won.
The blocks are together estimated to contain the equivalent of 4.2 billion barrels of oil.
"This has been another successful day for the oil sector in Mexico," said deputy hydrocarbons secretary Aldo Flores.
Flores said the US$93 billion expected to be invested in the projects could create 230,000 jobs in the first 15 years. Production could begin as soon as 2028.
Ahead of the bid round, the government had said it expected only seven of the 29 blocks on offer to be awarded. In the end, nineteen were awarded. Ten blocks received no bids, so were not awarded.
The blocks auctioned on Wednesday could pump over 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and 4 billion cubic feet per day of gas by 2032. Mexico currently produces around 1.9 million bpd.
Mexico received $525 million in cash from the companies that won blocks, which will be transferred to a government fund.