Latin American rivals race to ease terms

摘要

Mexico and Brazil will find out next month whether the upstream licensing terms that they have scrambled to adjust in recent days are attractive enough to win over cautious investors. Brazil, which has hosted more than a dozen licensing rounds, and newly liberalised Mexico have cut upfront guarantees, extended deadlines and made terms more flexible ahead of their respective auctions. With oil prices showing no sign of a rebound, further adjustments are likely. Mexico’s tender, the second in the country’s staggered first licensing round, offers nine shallow-water development blocks in five production-sharing contacts. The deadline for bids is 30 September. Oil regulator CNH has approved a lower corporate guarantee for the round, one of a number of adjustments made in the wake of a disappointing first tender last month for 14 shallow-water exploration contracts, only two of which were awarded (WPA, 17 July, p5).