Mexico’s finance ministry has set the minimum fiscal terms companies will be required to meet in order to win development rights in an upcoming oil auction.
The country is gearing up for the second round of its auctions in its Round One tender after an historic energy overhaul last year.
The minimum amount of profits required to win development rights varies slightly by contract.
The minimum value of pre-tax profits for the five offshore extraction contract up for grabs range between 30.2 and 35.9%.
The National Hydrocarbons Commission, known by its Spanish-language acronym CNH, is the oil regulator that will run the September 30 auction.
The minimum amount of profits required to win development rights varies slightly by contract.
At the high end, the second contractual area, which covers the Hokchi field, is set at 35.9 percent. Bids for the fifth contractual area on offer, covering the Mision and Nak fields, will require at least 30.2 percent of pre-tax profits for the government.
The five production-sharing contracts covering nine oil and gas fields will be awarded by the CNH based on which company or consortium offers the biggest share of pre-tax profits to the government via a weighted formula that also includes an investment commitment.
The share of profits is 90 percent of the formula, while the investment commitment accounts for the remaining 10 percent.
However, the newly released terms do not require bidders to offer a additional minimum work program investment, although previously established taxes and royalties will also apply.
The contracts are for shallow water exploration and production of tracts located along the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico near the country’s best-producing offshore fields, Ku-Maloob-Zaap and Cantarell.