Mexico’s Energy Industry, Round One, Fourth Tender – Deep Water Blocks

At last, the much anticipated deep-water bidding round has been announced in Mexico. Following the precedent set in the recently completed auctions for Round 1.3, Mexico has used a form of license contract as opposed to a production sharing contract model for these key areas. On December 17, 2015, the Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) published (i) the Call for Bidders No. CNH-R01-C04/2015 in the Federal Gazzette (Diario Oficial de la Nación or DOF) and (ii) the corresponding Bidding Guidelines and the model form license contract for 10 Contract Areas located in the Perdido Belt and the Cuenca Salina, both deep-water regions of the Gulf of Mexico.

In this client alert, we will provide a detailed summary of the most relevant characteristics of the Fourth Tender Bidding Guidelines and License. Complete copies of the guidelines and model form license can be found at ronda1.gob.mx.