Four oil and gas auctions for Mexican lots are expected to be held by the end of 2018, a news report said.
A fourth auction was announced by Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell at a conference this week, Reuters reported, adding to the three already planned.
The new tender will be a mix of shallow water fields, gas-rich shale areas and some deep water areas.
Current President Enrique Pena Nieto reformed Mexico’s energy sector in 2013, ending national oil company Pemex’s long-standing monopoly on the sector.
The President is constitutionally prohibited from seeking re-election in November 2018 and his successor is likely to be left-wing opposition leader and harsh critic Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Obrador is a vocal opponent of the oil market opening who could halt future auctions.
Recent auctions of this sort include a shallow water tender last month and a 24 block onshore auction is scheduled for next week.
The next deep water oil auction’s bid terms should be published by the end of this month, with contracts being awarded by early January.