Mexico will auction development rights to shale blocks in September, marking the first time the country has offered private oil companies the chance to develop the resource, which has been booming in the United States for years. The National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), Mexico’s oil regulator, on Thursday launched a call for bids for its first shale tender including nine contractual areas that will be awarded on Sept. 5. The blocks are in Mexico’s Burgos Basin, in the northwestern border state of Tamaulipas, where state-owned oil company Pemex has drilled some 20 exploratory wells in the past. CNH President Juan Carlos Zepeda said companies that win development rights will be able to tap conventional oil and gas deposits as well as shale formations that may lie above or below. “The auction’s winners will have […]