The New Latin American Oil Map
The Stena Carron drill ship located off Georgetown, Guyana.
Source: Exxon Mobil
In January, Mexico will hold its biggest auction of drilling rights to date, leasing access to offshore areas as well as opportunities to work with state-owned Pemex in the 500 million-barrel equivalent Nobilis-Maximino field. As many as three additional auctions also are expected next year. But presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed that if he wins, he’ll review contracts awarded to producers including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch Shell.
Venezuela’s once-mighty oil industry is in free fall after the regimes of Hugo Chávez and successor Nicolás Maduro drained the state-owned oil production company of cash. Output has fallen in 9 of the past 10 years, cratering last year to the lowest level since 1990.