Mexico’s oil sector regulator, CNH, voted on Monday to push back the publication of the final production-sharing contract and bid terms for its initial shallow-water tenders to June 9.
The final contract and bid terms for the initial package of 14 shallow water exploration blocks that will kick off Mexico’s historic oil sector opening were previously expected by Friday.
CNH President Juan Carlos Zepeda said the tweak to the previously announced timeline will allow more time for companies to offer comments and for the regulator to potentially approve additional modifications.
Comments on the draft contract and bid terms will we accepted until June 4, Zepeda added.
Mexico’s Congress enacted a sweeping energy reform last year that ended national oil company Pemex’s decades-long monopoly on exploration and production of crude while also permitting new contractual options for private companies.
The reform aims to reverse a decade-long slump in oil output by attracting billions of dollars in private investment from the new contracts.
Part of the so-called Round One tender, which will offer packages of contracts grouped by petroleum basin over the course of this year, the initial shallow-water exploration production-sharing contracts are expected to be awarded in July.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Peter Cooney and Mohammad Zargham)
