Norwegian company surveying offshore Mexican reserves

OSLO, Norway, July 28 (UPI) -- A Norwegian energy company said it was surveying Mexican waters for the reserve potential in anticipation of a "new era" in the nation's oil sector.

Dolphin Geophysical said Tuesday it started a seismic survey campaign off the western Mexican coast, saying the campaign coordinates with the nation's recent sector reforms.

"Dolphin is very pleased to begin the acquisition of its first survey of this new era in Mexican petroleum exploration," Andy Phipps, regional president for the company, said in a statement.

The Mexican government recently auctioned off rights to an estimated 2,600 square miles with reserve estimates of around 686 million barrels of oil equivalent, most of which exists as light crude oil. The auction drew interest from mid-sized energy companies like Australia's Woodside Petroleum, though few of the supermajors like French energy company Total registered for the bidding round.

A Monday briefing from analysis firm Wood Mackenzie said Mexico could draw on lessons learned from the latest auction as it looks forward to taking bids for deepwater exploration rights in the future.

"Overall, it's clear that while this first phase was not a success in terms of blocks awarded, it was not a failure either," the report read. "There were some encouraging signs for the future, including a diversity of participants and potential for competitive bidding for attractive blocks."

The country is opening its energy sector to investors after more than 70 years under a monopoly controlled by state-run Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto last year set a goal of producing 3.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2025, which would be a 40 percent increase from 2013 levels.

Dolphin said it was in a strong position to release seismic data in time for future Mexican exploration auctions.