Pemex's Ricos bidding stumbles

Mexico's state oil company Pemex failed to receive offers Wednesday (November 12) for the Ricos block of Burgos natural gas basin, and will evaluate re-launching tenders, the company announced. France's Total and US-based Exxon Mobil were the only two companies to purchase bidding rules for the competition, which is part of the multiple service contracts (MSCs) Pemex is offering for Burgos. The MSCs are designed to attract US$10bn in investment and double natural gas production in Burgos. Pemex aims to conduct workshops to re-examine technical data as well as terms and conditions offered for Ricos, and will later decide whether to re-launch bidding or change contract guidelines. Pemex failed to receive offers for the Corindon-Pandura block of Burgos last week, after successfully awarding the Reynosa-Monterrey block to Spain's Repsol YPF, the Mision block to Mexico's IPC (Industrial Perforadora de Campeche) and Argentina's Tecpetrol, and the Cuervito block to Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras, Japan's Teikoku Oil and Mexico's D&S Petroleum.