Majors snap up Mexico's shallow-water offering
Industry heavyweights have piled in after large discoveries in the Sureste Basin, which has emerged as the country's most promising area outside the deep waters
Mexico saw strong interest from international oil companies in its last bid round before presidential elections in July which threaten to hamper energy reforms transforming the country's upstream. Of the 35 Gulf of Mexico shallow-water blocks put on offer this week, 16 drew winning bids, including from Total, Eni, Repsol, Shell and Mexico's state-owned Pemex. The clear standout area, as with last year's shallow-water round, was the Sureste (southeast) Basin, where all of the eight blocks offered up drew multiple competing bids. The Sureste Basin has been a reliable source of production for Pemex over the years, but more importantly has seen two major discoveries from foreign investors since
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
