As 2020 draws to a close, the door remains closed for new exploration and production (E&P) contracts in Mexico’s oil and gas sector, with little visibility as to when they might resume.

Mexico oil prices

With bid rounds, farmout tenders and service contract migrations frozen until further notice by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, upstream activity will in the meantime be limited to state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the 111 E&P contracts awarded from 2015-2018 under the previous government following the 2013-2014 market-opening energy reform.

A recently published five-year plan for oil and gas auctions published by energy ministry Sener offered some hope that bid rounds may return, although Sener may have just released the document in order to comply with the law,...