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
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
