Mexico's energy authorities have unveiled a new and enhanced version of its five-year plan for upstream auctions, with blocks that cover proven, probable and possible reserves of 105 billion barrels of oil equivalent and total area of 256,000 sq km.
Since last year's energy reform, the country has completed two phases of Round One, the first series of upstream auctions following the end of the 77-year state monopoly.
The plan announced Wednesday includes the next four rounds, and expands on the original plan sketched out in June. Each round corresponds roughly to one year of the planned period, but there will be some overlap among rounds.
Since June, industry experts have added much greater detail and suggestions to enrich the plan, Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said.
The 105 billion boe of resources included in the enhanced plan is one-third more than the amount announced in June, although the area is approximately the same.
There are fewer blocks but those included are larger, which should please those in the industry who criticized the relative smallness of the blocks being auctioned in Round One.
The five-year plan now includes 96 blocks for exploration and 237 for extraction, compared with the prior version's 670 and 244, respectively, Joaquin Coldwell said.
He also invited companies to make suggestions for future auctions, particularly when two or more companies are interested in the same area. At least a dozen companies have already done so, Joaquin Coldwell said.
The minister added that the companies consulted over the plan were agreed on the suggestion that blocks should be as close to each other as possible, particularly those far from shore. "What they want, and we agree, is that they can share infrastructure and achieve economies of scale," he said.
Undersecretary for Energy Lourdes Melgar said that when the companies made suggestions to improve the plan, there were surprises.
"What came as no surprise was the interest in the Perdido Fold Belt in deepwater, for example," she said. Perdido extends into US territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico that have proved to be prolific.
"But," added Melgar, "what was surprising in the present context was that companies were interested in the unconventional resources of Tampico-Misantla."
Tampico Misantla is an area of shale and tight oil that Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, has been unable to crack.
Melgar added that Round Four and Round Five include areas that require technology not available at present, but which is expected to be by the time of those rounds.
