Mexico awarded China Offshore Oil Corporation the fourth block tendered from the Gulf of Mexico's Perdido Fold Belt off the U.S.-Mexico maritime border in a historic deep water oil and gas auction on Monday.
Block 4 is a 725 square mile (1,876.7 square km) area which the energy ministry says contains some 540.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in light and extra light crude.
Earlier, China Offshore Oil also won the first block auctioned in the Perdido Fold Belt.