Mexican oil auctions originally set for later this year will be postponed until February, Mexico's oil regulator announced on Wednesday, allowing time for leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to take office.
During the campaign, Lopez Obrador said he would request a pause in auctions to allow his team to check for corruption in oil and gas contracts already issued to private and foreign companies. Lopez Obrador takes office in December following his landslide election victory on July 1. The auctions are scheduled for Feb. 14.
The head of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), which runs the auctions and supervises the contracts, said the decision was aimed at attracting more bidders, while also acknowledging the political transition. A total of 45 onshore areas, including both conventional and shale blocks, were originally scheduled for auction on Sept. 27, while tenders to pick partners for state-owned oil company Pemex in seven separate areas had been set to be awarded on Oct. 31.
The projects would have been the last scheduled oil tenders under outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto.