IFR JV enters onshore bid of round 2 of Mexico energy reform

International Frontier Resources’ (IFR) jointly owned Mexican company Tonalli Energia has registered and granted access to the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) data room for the third tender of Round Two of Mexico’s oil and gas energy reform.

Tonalli is in the process of evaluating and assessing block data and completing the necessary documentation to participate in this bidding process.

Concessions will be awarded in July, carrying a validity of 30 years under a licence contract model.

Licences for exploration and production can be extended for a maximum of two additional terms of five years each.

The Government of Mexico announced this third tender of Round Two on last November. It will be the eighth upstream bid round in Mexico since the beginning of the energy reforms.

During the bidding process, 14 onshore blocks averaging 185km² (72 sections) will be available across the country.

Six of these blocks are located in the Southeastern Basin, four in the Burgos Basin, three in the Veracruz Basin and one block in the Tampico-Misantla Basin.

Comprising an area of 2,595km², the exploration and development blocks host 25 oil and gas fields with existing 3D or 2D seismic coverage.

The government estimated that the blocks contain prospective exploration resources of nearly 251 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (bcoe) and the remaining original extraction volumes of approximately 328 million bcoe.

Last year, Tonalli took over the operatorship of the Tecolutla block from state-owned Pemex, which was acquired through a 50-50 joint venture with Grupo IDESA in 2016’s onshore block auction.

IFR is claimed to be one of the first foreign companies to participate in Mexico’s oil and gas sector reforms.

IFR is a Canadian publicly traded company with multiple projects in North America.