Mexico Wants Exploration Rights in the Gulf

The Mexican government said this week it has taken legal steps to solidify its claim and help start oil exploration in a section of the Gulf of Mexico outside standard territorial limits.

The area lies outside both the United States and Mexico's 200-mile territorial limits, a gap known as "the doughnut hole."

The Mexican government is seeking recognition for Mexico's right to the area.

The two nations divided up the area under a bilateral agreement signed in 2001, in which Mexico obtained rights to about 60 percent of the 6,500-square-mile gap. The agreement was intended to sort out potentially lucrative rights to offshore oil exploration.