Deepwater

A unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc said Tuesday it is pulling the trigger to invest in Vito, a deepwater development in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) that it estimates has a forward-looking, breakeven price of less than $35/bbl.

As oil and gas operators become “leaner and meaner,” they are reducing the size of projects and their costs, with a number of big investment decisions on the horizon, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Houston-based W&T Offshore Inc. has added to its Gulf of Mexico (GOM) portfolio after claiming stakes in three blocks producing for the deepwater Heidelberg development operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

The Mexican upstream regulator has called off what would have been thesecond deepwater farmout by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) because of a lack of interest, while also authorizing the state-owned producer to carry out additional exploration work on the project.

The Mexican government has set the final fiscal terms for next year’s auctions of deepwater oil and natural gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

As operators use their capital for faster-to-market onshore prospecting, offshore exploration has declined and with it dealmaking, according to IHS Markit.

BP plc has launched an initial public offering for its Houston-based pipeline spinoff BP Midstream Partners LP.

Mexico’s upstream hydrocarbons regulator on Thursday authorized a new auction for shallow water natural gas and oil exploration and production (E&P) leases, while also dropping a block from its ongoing deepwater round.

Big Oil companies Chevron Corp. and Total SA have agreed to partner to explore seven prospects covering 16 blocks in U.S. deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).