Royal Dutch Shell dominated the proceedings in the Round 2 of the Call for Bids of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) by bagging nine of the blocks.
Apart from Shell, Pemex, Qatar Petroleum, Repsol and PC Carigali were the notable winners in the auction.
Mexico is expected to rake in investments of about $93bn in what is seen as the largest auction since the country had opened up its energy sector to foreign companies in 2014, reported Reuters.
A total of 26 companies and consortia had pre-qualified to take a shot at winning the exploration rights for the blocks.
Shell through its Mexican subsidiary Shell Exploración y Extracción de México, had won four exploration blocks on its own. Four of them were won in consortium with Qatar Petroleum International and the remaining one block was won in partnership with local partner Pemex Exploración y Producción (Pemex).
All the nine blocks, which put together make up an area of 18,996km2, will be operated by Shell.
Shell upstream director Andy Brown said: “We commend Mexico on a historical, successful bid round; for Shell, today’s win marks a competitive, deep-water entry in Mexico.
“The proximity and technical similarity of this opportunity to our leading position in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico will allow us to benefit from and build upon decades of experience, complementing our position in the region.”
Pemex, the Mexican state-owned petroleum company was awarded four blocks in the auction, two of them on its own.
PC Carigali, a subsidiary of Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas, made it big by winning six blocks, two on its own and four in partnerships with other companies.
