Pemex opens bids for 7 platforms and a gas expansion

Private participation in Mexico's 1997 drilling and refining projects was set on the auction block end of December. On Dec. 26, Pemex set the bidding for the construction of seven drilling platforms in Campeche Sound, and within a week later the bidding for a contract to expand natural gas output in the Burgos Basin in Tamaulipas. These and other contracts will auctioned in January. The company plans to invest in 1997 for a total 50.161 billion pesos. For 1997, Pemex pledges to improve the quality of its products and client service and ensure the safety of its installations, in the face of two fatal accidents in the past six months.