A Mexican-Argentine consortium has won the third tender to explore the Mision block in the Burgos Basin, after offering a bid of $1.036 billion, according to Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

Pemex said the consortium is composed of Tecpotrol, an Argentine subsidiary of the Techint Group, and Mexico’s Industrial Perforadora de Campeche, which is a subsidiary of Grupo R, a Mexican conglomerate.

The bid, awarded on Thursday, is for a 1,972 square kilometer block, comprised of 21 separate gas fields in the Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states. Mision is expected to yield 91 MMcf/d over the life of a 20-year contract, up from its current level of 35 MMcf/d, Pemex said.

Pemex is offering seven blocks to develop nonassociated gas reserves through Multiple Service Contracts, and began awarding bids in the past month. It hopes to double production in the basin by 2006 from the current 1 Bcf/d to meet growing gas demand and reduce expensive U.S. imports.

“With the three blocks, we are expecting to save $700 million and reach production goals of about 350 MMcf/d,” Sergio Guaso, Pemex’s head of multiple service contracts, told Reuters. He noted that the award to a consortium that includes Mexican companies was “relevant to us because this demonstrates that Mexican companies will play an important role in the development of natural gas in Mexico.”

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