MEXICO CITY, Sept 1 (Reuters) - At least eight large oilcompanies will participate in Mexico's tender to partner withstate oil company Pemex to develop the deep-water Trion field inthe Gulf of Mexico, two sources from the National HydrocarbonsCommission (CNH) said.
Mexican subsidiaries of BHP Billiton, BP,Chevron Corp., Inpex Corp., Total Exxon, Shell and Mitsubishi Corp. willbid on Dec. 5 to be part of the Joint Operating Agreement withPemex, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Pemex will own about 45 percent of the consortium formed forexploration and production in Trion, located in the Perdido areain the Gulf near the U.S. border.
One more company could qualify for the tender in the nextfew days, one of the people said.
The list of participants rose to eight from six after theCNH allowed companies more time to prepare the documents andpayments necessary to take part in the bidding.
The contract will be awarded the same day that thegovernment will auction potentially lucrative exploration andproduction contracts for 10 other blocks. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Alan Crosby)