Amec FW wins generator contract in Mexico
Amec Foster Wheeler has won a contract to design and supply two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for the 615 megwatt combined cycle power plant in Mexico.
Mexico
Rampant pipeline theft fails to deter Mexico onshore oil bidders
Mexico is preparing to auction the rights to produce oil from onshore fields in five of the nation’s states. These are the same states that average five incidents of pipeline theft a day where illegal taps are used to steal oil and gasoline in transit -- almost double the pace from just two years ago.
Eni gets go ahead for Mexico drilling campaign
Italy's Eni has been given the green light for its drilling campaign offshore Mexico.
Sierra aims to beginning drilling in Mexico in 2017 after winning contract
A consortium that includes Mexico's Sierra Oil & Gas plans in early 2017 to make its first exploratory drill in one of the fields it was awarded as part of a landmark energy reform.
ConocoPhillips plans to stop searching for oil and gas in deepwater fields by 2017
ConocoPhillips said the company will stop searching for oil and gas in deepwater fields by 2017 as well as selling offshore leases it doesn’t intend to drill. The company said the move will help free up $800million in capital, the same amount which has been estimated for exploration next year. Earlier this week Conoco revealed its capital budget for the year would be cut to $10.2billion, in response to continued low oil prices.
Maven Capital Partners injects £5.4million into energy engineering firm
Maven Capital Partners has injected £5.4million into an energy engineering firm that has successfully diversified from oil and gas to the off and onshore wind sector. GEV Group, which has an office in Aberdeen, will use the funds to support its “impressive growth plans”, Maven said. Maven said the investment means GEV is well positioned to capitalise on the projected growth in wind power, driven by global emissions and fossil fuel reduction targets.
Chevron completes appraisal of “significant” discovery in Gulf of Mexico
Oil major Chevron said it has made a “significant discovery” after the appraisal of the Anchor discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. The original discovery well, which is located 140 miles off the coast of Louisiana, was drilled in late last year to a depth of 33,750feet and encountered 690feet of net oil pay. The appraisal drilling began in June this year and Chevron said complete appraisal of the field will require further delineation wells and technical studies.
Transocean reaches $20million settlement deal with Alabama over Deepwater Horizon
Transocean has reached an agreement with the state of Alabama for a $20million settlement following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The decision was announced earlier this month by Governor Robert Bentley who said the region had suffered “tremendous” losses since the spill five years ago. He said the agreement with Transocean was a “positive” step forward as the state continued to recover.
Fatal platform fire caused by leak in gas fuel line
The cause of a platform fire in Mexico earlier this year which killed four workers and left 16 injured was a leak in a rarely used gas fuel line which had corroded, according to a new report. The findings by Mexico’s Agencia de Seguridad, Energia y Ambiente (ASEA) on what happened on board the Pemex Abkatun Permanente platform will not lead to any fines against the company. The gas fuel line had shown what was described as an “unusual” kind of accelerated corrosion due the presence of micro-organisms and sulphuric acid within the gas.
Gallery: Anadarko topside put into place for Heidleberg
Anadarko has lifted the topsides onto the hull of its Heidelberg spar in the deep-water US Gulf of Mexico. The platform is expected to achieve first oil by 2016.
Northcote eyes onshore opportunities in Mexico licence round
Northcote Energy has said it is making progress with it plans to acquire onshore assets in Mexico via the Government’s ongoing licensing rounds.
Mexico should add greater transparency to its offshore bidding process
The Mexican Government should add further transparency to the process of its offshore bidding rounds as they approach the deepwater phase, according to new analysis. Consulting firm GlobalData said the step should be taken after the government received higher than expected bids in the most recent round. Earlier this year Mexico opened its energy market up to investors for the first time in more than 70 years.
Fugro and Diavaz win $13million Pemex contract extension
Fugro has been awarded an extension on the ongoing offshore geophysical and geotechnical campaign being led by Pemex in a deal worth $13million. The company is working in conjunction with Diavaz on the project which will support exploration drilling activities in the Bay of Campeche and deepwater locations in the Perdido area.
MX Oil joins Mexico’s onshore drive
MX Oil threw its bidding hat into Mexico’s onshore licensing round.
Mexico’s flirting with big oil, gets Italian nod as Eni wins bid
Mexico’s flirting with the international oil industry got off on the wrong foot, but they finally have something going.
MX Oil looks ahead to “game changing” six months
UK oil and gas investment company MX Oil is looking ahead to a "game changing" end of year with progress made in Mexico and imminent production expected from its Nigerian assets.
Deepwater lure could attract bidders to Mexico’s next licensing round
Mexico needs to attract significant interest to salvage a bidding round hampered by delays and low oil prices according to research carried out by consulting firm GlobalData.
Mexico’s finance ministry sets minimum fiscal terms for September auction
Mexico’s finance ministry has set the minimum fiscal terms companies will be required to meet in order to win development rights in an upcoming oil auction. The country is gearing up for the second round of its auctions in its Round One tender after an historic energy overhaul last year. The minimum amount of profits required to win development rights varies slightly by contract. The minimum value of pre-tax profits for the five offshore extraction contract up for grabs range between 30.2 and 35.9%.
Mexico cuts oil spending to nine-year low as foreign firms enter
Mexico plans to spend the least in nine years to explore for oil, relying instead on foreign companies to help reverse a decade-long decline in production. Even as President Enrique Pena Nieto announced late Tuesday that Mexico would reduce its investment in Petroleos Mexicanos by 20 percent in 2016, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said the company has no plans to pump less to support oil prices that have plunged by more than half in the past year. The Mexican state-owned oil producer, which has lost money 11 quarters in a row, is for the first time in 77 years making room for foreign firms to bid for the right to drill in Mexican territory. The reduction of the investment, which was cut $4.1 billion this year amid depressed oil prices, “forces Pemex to accelerate the process of forming partnerships,” according to Alejandra Leon, Mexico City-based analyst with research firm IHS Energy. “Pemex’s new framework forces it to consummate its independence and to generate its own resources,” Leon said. “This changes its investment strategy.”
Scottish university agrees MOU with Mexican Government
Robert Gordon University (RGU) and the Mexican Government said yesterday they had agreed to an oil and gas industry knowledge swap. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was announced at Offshore Europe in Aberdeen and follows Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s visit to the Granite City in March. Under the pact, the Mexican energy ministry and RGU will share information and seek opportunities to support the training of Mexicans for the oil and gas industry. RGU will be included on the list of preferred universities for Mexican scholarships.
Northcote enters next Mexican onshore bidding round
US-oil firm Northcote Energy has confirmed that it is participating in Round 1 of Phase Three of Mexico’s onshore oil and gas licensing.
Optasense secures $4million Mexican pipeline contract
Technology firm Optasense has announced that its award-winning fibre-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) system has been chosen to provide improved pipeline monitoring, including leak detection, on a gas pipeline in Mexico.
Pemex investors face crude reality with threat of credit downgrade
More than a year after Mexico rewrote laws to give oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos the financial independence needed to compete with global peers like ExxonMobil, things aren’t looking good for the state-owned driller. With crude near a six-year low, output dropping and Moody’s Investors Service warning that it’s considering a cut to Pemex’s credit rating, investors are demanding a widening premium to own the company’s bonds instead of government notes. The extra yield they demand to hold the dollar debt from Pemex is at a six-month high of 1.1 percentage points.
Mexico sweetens oil auction terms again to avoid repeat of flop
Oil companies competing in the next phase of Mexico's historic Round One auction will know the minimum level of profits demanded by the government prior to the auction, the sector regulator said on Tuesday, in a bid to raise investor interest. The oil regulator, known by its Spanish-language acronym CNH, also said it will offer companies the possibility to conduct additional exploration and extraction beyond reserves that have already been discovered. The changes are aimed at avoiding a repeat of the first phase of the auction, in which the government missed its own modest expectations, awarding just two of 14 contracts offered.
Mexico wraps $1.1bn oil options hedge to lock in $49 floor
Mexico has concluded its vast oil hedging program for next year, paying more than $1 billion to guarantee it will get at least $49 a barrel for about half of its exported crude in 2016. Announcing the unusually early completion of the biggest sovereign oil derivatives trade in the world, Mexico's finance ministry said late on Wednesday it had bought options based on Maya and Brent crude oil prices that will cover 212 million barrels of oil, at a cost of $1.09 billion. Mexico is "very unlikely" to reopen the hedge, a source close to the operation told Reuters, adding the program centered on Maya crude. Counterparties to the program included Barclays and JPMorgan, the source added.