Pemex seeking bids for two gas blocks in Burgos basin

Allen Baker

The Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos is seeking bids to develop two blocks of natural gas reserves in the Burgos basin, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Pemex expects to award 15-year service contracts for the Pandura-Anahuac and Ricos blocks. The pair is expected to produce 325 million cubic feet of natural gas daily by 2007. Total investment is put at US$1.85 billion.

Also included in this second round of contracts are blocks called Pirineo and Monclova. Those blocks, with contracts to be tendered Aug. 17, are expected to produce 140 million cubic feet daily and require investments totaling $900 million.

The first round of Pemex contracts in January resulted in investment commitments of $4.34 billion, in five blocks expected to produce 425 million cubic feet daily. No bids were received on two other blocks then.

International oil companies, in partnership with several Mexican companies, were the winning bidders in the first round, but the super majors weren’t interested. Winning companies included Petroleo Brasileiro of Brazil, Repsol of Spain, Lewis Energy of Texas and Techint of Italy and Argentina.

The Burgos field is just across the border from south Texas. Pemex wants to double Burgos’ output to 2 billion cubic feet daily with the service contracts. But there have been opposition and legal challenges to foreign involvement in Mexico’s oil industry, which was nationalized in the 1930s.