Chevron Corp. has joined forces with Petroleos Mexicanos and Japan’s Inpex Corp. to bid next week for the right to explore for oil and natural gas, the first time the state-owned operator will partner with private companies to develop crude in the Gulf of Mexico. Seven groups and eight individual bidders have been qualified to participate in the Dec. 5 auctions that include the Trion field joint-venture with Pemex and other 10 deepwater blocks, Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission announced in Mexico City on Monday. The regulator didn’t specify which bids were for the joint venture or for the other areas. Total SA has joined forces with BP Plc and Norway’s Statoil in one group, and with Exxon Mobil Corp. in another. Eni SpA and Lukoil have also joined up, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc formed another group. The Mexican government made a series of adjustments […]