LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Oil and gas producer MX Oil revealed it is one of 15 companies currently seeking to secure 25 licences the Mexican government will award in December.
The central American country ended its state monopoly on the oil and gas industry for the first time in 76 years, and the London-listed company said it hopes to win at least two Type 1 blocks licences, which include onshore fields with resources of approximately 100m barrels of oil equivalent.

MX said only 15 firms entered the first round of bidding, while the London-listed company was still in the process of finalising documentation before submitting the required pre-qualification filing.

In May, the group said it expected 26 licences to be made available in the bidding round, instead of the 25 that will be awarded, which will cover the states of Chiapas, Nuevo Leon, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Veracruz.

MX said it expects the results of the licensing round to be released in December and remained confident of its chances.

"With our bidding inscription paid and due diligence progressing well on our target blocks, we are excited about the months ahead as we move closer to the concession awards by year end," said group chief executive Stefan Olivier.

"We remain confident of winning two or more oil producing blocks."

Meanwhile, the group said it was collaborating with Mexico-based sector peer Geo Estratos in a bid to secure existing fields operated by state-owned oil company Pemex via farm out agreements.

MX shares were down 2.48% to 2.83p at 1139 BST on Tuesday.

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