Mexico has concluded its vast oil hedging program for next year, paying more than $1 billion to guarantee it will get at least $49 a barrel for about half of its exported crude in 2016.
Announcing the unusually early completion of the biggest sovereign oil derivatives trade in the world, Mexico's finance ministry said late on Wednesday it had bought options based on Maya and Brent crude oil prices that will cover 212 million barrels of oil, at a cost of $1.09 billion.
Mexico is "very unlikely" to reopen the hedge, a source close to the operation told Reuters, adding the program centered on Maya crude. Counterparties to the program included Barclays and JPMorgan, the source added.
Schlumberger has expanded its Gulf of Mexico seismic data portfolio by launching a new survey in the Campeche basin.
The survey offshore will cover an area of 80,000sq km and will be carried out using two fleets of WesterGeco vessels.
Maurice Nessim, president at WesternGeco, said: “Building on our experience in the US Gulf of Mexico, we are focused on collaborating with customers to understand and prioritize the hydrocarbon potential in the Mexican waters of the Gulf.
Wood Group has won a $28million contract with Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex.
The deal will see Wood Group Kenny (WGK) and Wood Group Mustang (WGM) provide deepwater and complex shallow water concept and basic engineering services.
Workers who were injured when a rig collapsed earlier this year have sued the rig manufacturer.
The move follows an incident in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico in May in which a worker was killed.
The 26 employees have taken legal action against Friede & Goldman and its affiliates Friede & Goldman LLC, FG Engineering Ltd and FG Engineering Ltd and FKA Friede & Goldman Ltd.
Mexico’s oil regulator has voted to change the rules for the second phase of the country’s round one auction.
The move includes lowering a required corporate guarantee that was said to have initially put investors off.
Last month the first inaugural oil auction – which covered 14 shallow water exploration blocks – took place.
However, only two blocks were awarded in the first stage of the highly anticipated auction.
Imagine parking your $300 million boat for months out in the open sea, with well-paid mechanics hovering around it and the engine running.
The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea have become a garage for deepwater drillships -- at a cost of about $70,000 a day each. It’s either that or send your precious rig to a scrapyard.
The dilemma underscores how an offshore industry that geared up for an oil boom is grappling with a bust. Rig owners are putting equipment aside at unprecedented numbers as customers including ConocoPhillips pull back from higher-cost deepwater exploration. That’s helped make Transocean Ltd. and Ensco Plc two of the three worst performers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the past year.
Eight months into OPEC’s plan to hit rival oil producers, the casualties are mounting. Surprisingly, the most resilient may be the one that triggered the fight: the US.
Projections for combined daily output from Brazil, Canada, Russia, Mexico and Colombia by the end of the decade were cut by 2.8 million barrels since oil slumped last year, data from the countries and the International Energy Agency show.
In contrast, the US Energy Department increased its estimate for crude output in 2020 by more than a million barrels.
Prices fell more than 45 percent in the past year after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to cut output, instead pressuring rival producers to eliminate a global supply glut.
EMGS (Electrogmagnetic Geoservices)has been given approval to acquire more than 80,000sq km of 3D electromagnetic data in Mexico.
Regulator CNH (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos) gave the nod for the deal, which will last over a five year period.
The work will be conducted in the Salina de Itsmo basin which is thought to have attractive reservoir opportunities.
Enterprise Products Partners has sold their offshore Gulf of Mexico pipelines and services business to Genesis Energy in a $1.5billion deal.
The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of this year.
The company’s assets in the region include ownership interest in nine crude oil pipeline systems and interest in six offshore hub platforms.
Mexico’s first auction of offshore oil leases fell short of the country’s expectations as several majors decided not to participate.
Only two of the 14 shallow-water blocks released on Wednesday received qualifying bids. Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total SA passed on the country’s sale of territory in the Gulf of Mexico, 77 years after the country nationalized crude. The 14 percent success rate was less than half the 30 percent to 50 percent goal that the government said would be its minimum for judging the event a success.
The auction was the first in a series that will help determine whether Mexico can reverse a decade-long decline in crude output and fulfill President Enrique Pena Nieto’s pledge to double the speed of economic growth. The output drop and an almost 50 percent plunge in oil prices during the past year had already forced Mexico to trim government spending and sweeten the contract terms for prospective bidders.
The first round of the historic opening into Mexico's crude market has closed with only two successful bids.
A total of 14 blocks had been up for grabs in the landmark opportunity for companies looking to invest in the region.
However, as the CNH (Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos) moved through the blocks on offer it was clear Mexico's big gamble was off to a slow start.
Mexico has successfully auctioned two of the first seven blocks made available in the first of its historic oil and gas tenders.
The North American country has opened up the industry, which had long been nationalised, for the first time since 1938.
Both of the contracts have been awarded to a consortium of Sierra Oil & Gas, Premoer Oil and Talos Energy.
A trio of oil majors have chosen to miss bidding for 14 blocks in Mexico in the first round of its historic auction, which opens the country's energy market up to private investors for the first time in more than 70 years.
ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron have all passed on the opportunity which has seen just three successful bids so far.
Mexico has opened up its historic bid for shallow-water blocks in the first opportunity for private investors in more than 70 years.
The country's regulator CNH (Comision Nacional de Hidrocarburos) had been calling for bids above the minimum 40% of pre-tax profits required by the government.
To recap - Of the nine blocks so far, just two have been successful with a consortia of Sierra Oil & Gas, Premier Oil and Talos Energy winning both.
Sempra Energy has been awarded a natural gas transportation contract in Mexico by the Comision Federalde Electricidad.
The company said the agreement had been signed with its Mexican unit, IEnova (Infraestructura Energetica Nova), through its subsidiary Gasoducto de Aquaprieta.
The project will comprise a header facility with a capacity of three billion feet per day of natural gas and a 14-mile pipeline with a capacity of 1,135 million cubic feet per day of natural
gas.
Mexico may have missed the mark in opening up its energy market to foreign investors as the oil price decline continues to hit, according to a leading expert.
Derek Leith, UK head of oil and gas taxation at EY, said the fall in oil price may be a deciding factor in the historic auction for 14 licences in the South American country.
Mexico has made the bold move as its rebounds from a decade long decline in oil production.
It is estimated there has been an overall loss in that time of around a million barrels of oil per day.
Mexico is gearing up for the first auction of new licences to private investors in almost 80 years.
The government will hold the first of the sales, which it hopes will open the energy industry, and bring in an estimated $62.5billion by 2018.
It is also expected to increase annual output in the country by 500,000 barrels a day.
Mexican state-owned energy giant Pemex will not be participating in round one of the country’s historic energy opening.
The move was revealed by Mexican energy minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell.
The initial tenders are part of an opening which is aimed at helping to bring more private investment into the country’s oil and gas sector.
Mexico’s Alfa SAB and partner Harbour Energy Ltd. dropped their plans to buy Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. after the driller’s largest shareholder spurned a takeover offer once valued at as much as $1.7billion.
Northcote and its joint venture partner Gaia Ecologica have invested in their first new facility as they look to expand their reach in Mexico’s energy sector.
The companies purchased a 22-acre property for the development of an environmental waste remediation facility based in the southern state of Tabasco.
The strategic location of the base means it could benefit from the considerable activity being undertaken in the region by Mexican state-owned Pemex.
