Russia's Lukoil Wins Right to Develop Mexican Offshore Oil Block
Lukoil International Upstream Holding, a subsidiary of Russian oil giant Lukoil, won the right for an oil block in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico in a tender held by Mexico's National Hydrocarbon's Commission (CNH) on Monday.
MEXICO (Sputnik) — Lukoil has been declared the winner of Area 12 with a 75-percent share of royalties. No other economic proposals have been made on this area. The heavy-oil block is located in the oil province of Cuencas del Sureste, its area is 521 square kilometers (201 square miles) at 100-500 meters (328-1,640 feet) water depth.Lukoil's joint proposal in a consortium with the Italian ENI finished second in a tender for Area 2, losing to the consortium of the German DEA and the Mexican Pemex.
Earlier, it was reported that Rosneft's subsidiary RN-Shelf South passed a prequalification selection in a major oil tender in Mexico, but it did not submit proposals for participation. The reasons for Rosneft's refusal to participate in the tender are not yet disclosed.
A total of 26 companies from 15 countries, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Pemex, Repsol, Shell and Total, competed for the right to develop 15 oil blocks in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico located in the oil provinces of Tampico Misantla, Veracruz and Cuencas del Sureste, and 10 of 15 blocks have been allocated among them. The remaining five blocks failed to attract any bids.Lukoil has previously participated in similar tenders in Mexico, but without any success.
According to the Mexican side, preliminary estimated prospective reserves of the blocks put up for tender amount to 1.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
