Mexican upstream regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) has given the green light for the local subsidiaries of European energy giants BP plc and Equinor ASA to pull out of their participation in a deepwater block offshore Veracruz and Tabasco states.

mexico production

The Mexico branch of France’s TotalEnergies SE will now assume control of the Salina basin contract. A license on the block was granted to the consortium in an upstream bidding round in 2016. Equinor had said that the block was in “a largely unexplored deepwater area.”

The director of Mexico energy consultancy GMEC, Gonzalo Monroy, told NGI’s Mexico GPI six blocks won during bid rounds during the previous Mexico government are also being returned to the CNH. He said the moves, however, have more to do with...