Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 23 2022

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

AMLO expects a deal with

Talos on Zama oilfield soon

MEXICAN President Andres Manuel Lopez appointed Pemex as the operator of the unitised
Obrador said on June 3 that his government sites, earlier this year. Talos then confirmed that
was on track to strike a deal with the US com- it had received the Unitisation Resolution (UR),
pany Talos Energy on unitisation of the Zama an official notice of this merger, in late March
oilfield with a neighbouring site controlled by The UR calls for Talos to retain a participat-
the national oil company (NOC) Pemex in the ing interest of 17.35% in the Zama field. It also
near future. provides for the working partners in the project
Speaking at his daily press conference in to draw up and submit for approval a unit devel-
Mexico City, Lopez Obrador said the two sides opment plan within the next six to 12 months,
had nearly wrapped up negotiations on the mat- with the aim of reaching the final investment
ter. Talos appears to be ready to accept the Mexi- decision (FID) stage sometime in 2023. Talos
can government’s terms for merging Block 7, the said in late March that it would take part in the
licence area that contains Zama, with Pemex’s activities related to making the FID, while also
acreage, he told reporters. evaluating its legal and strategic options.
“It looks like an agreement is being reached. The US company discovered Zama, which is
I myself told the [US] company’s manager that believed to hold at least 700mn barrels of oil in
their investments are guaranteed,” he said. recoverable reserves, at Block 7 in 2017. At the
He did not disclose the terms of the offer that time, it was working at the site in a consortium
Mexican authorities had made to Talos or say with Wintershall Dea (Germany) and Premier
when the parties hoped to finalise the deal. Oil (UK). Equity in the project was split 35% to
Talos,40% to Wintershall and 25% to Premier,
Talos’ response which retained its stake in the field following its
The US-based firm, for its part, said in a state- merger with Chrysaor Holdings, another British
ment published later on June 3 that it hoped to company, into a new company known as Har-
reach an agreement with Pemex that “respects bour Energy.
the rule of law.” It did not comment directly on Following the discovery, SENER began
the Mexican president’s remarks but said its aim claiming that Zama was part of a larger reser-
was to strike a deal that was mutually beneficial voir that extended into a neighbouring block. It
for all of the parties involved and that could instructed Pemex and Talos to negotiate a uni-
help ensure that the Zama field was developed tisation agreement, citing studies showing that
successfully. the Asab, Chamak and Naquita fields at Uchukil
Talos has been contesting Mexico City’s 0152 were part of the same reservoir discovered
decision in favour of unitisation, to the point of at Zama. According to Mexican officials, those
pursuing an arbitration claim against the Mexi- studies showed all the fields to be part of a sin-
can government. Last month, however, it put its gle reservoir that lay mostly within the block
case on hold and resumed talks with Mexican assigned to Pemex.
authorities on the project, according to a report Talos repeatedly raised objections to SEN-
from Reuters. ER’s position, citing Pemex’s repeated failures to
Mexico’s Energy Secretariat (SENER) for- carry out exploration drilling at Uchukil 0152
mally merged Block 7 with Uchukil 0152, and other problems. Nevertheless, its efforts did
the adjacent block assigned to Pemex, and not gain any ground in Mexico City. ™

Zama lies within a shallow-water section of the southern Gulf of Mexico (Image: Talos Energy)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 09•June•2022