Updated

Mexico's second auction aimed at drawing private companies into its petroleum sector has been better received than the first, attracting bids on most of the blocks offered.

Officials auctioned exploration and production rights to five shallow-water blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.

Two did not receive bids, but the winners of the other three were Italy's ENI, a consortium headed by the Argentine Pan American Energy LLC and a consortium that included Fieldwood Energy LLC of the United States and the Mexican Petrobal.

In the first auction in July, only two of the 14 blocks attracted bids.

In 2014, Mexico concluded a historic reform of its petroleum industry, putting an end to a state monopoly that had persisted since nationalization in 1938.