Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 06 2020

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil
CNH member Sergio Pimentel says the commission’s technical findings would be legally binding (Photo: Twitter/@CNH_MX)
CNH may intervene in Zama dispute
If Pemex and Talos cannot strike a deal, the commission’s technical opinion will take precedence
WHAT:
Talks on the fate of the Zama project appear to be stalling.
WHY:
The dispute over the project has stirred con- cern about the current Mexican government’s attitude towards private investors.
WHAT NEXT:
CNH will be asked to draw up a technical assessment if the parties remain at odds.
MEXICO’S National Hydrocarbons Com- mission, known as CNH, is reportedly ready to intervene in the event that the national oil company (NOC) Pemex is unable to resolve a dispute with a private investor over the division of a large offshore oilfield.
Sergio Pimentel, a lawyer who serves on the commission, told Reuters in an interview ear- lier this week that Pemex and US-based Talos Energy were still in talks on jurisdiction over the Zama field, which lies offshore Tabasco State. He said, though, that the closed-door negotiations appeared to be slowing down.
If the parties cannot reach agreement, he said, CNH will be tasked with providing the Mexican Energy Secretariat with a technical assessment of the matter in order to determine which company should serve as operator of Zama. In this event, the commission’s findings will be legally binding, he stated.
“The energy ministry has to take as a baseline the technical aspects that the regulator provides it,” Pimentel explained. “Legally, it can’t go in a different direction.”
He went on to say that he still hoped Talos
and Pemex would be able to strike a deal with- out CNH’s intervention. If the companies can do this, he added, their next step will be to draw up a joint plan for work at the Zama field.
Pemex representatives briefed CNH’s mem- bers on the NOC’s development programme for the site earlier this month, Reuters noted. When queried by the news agency, Pimentel declined to divulge any details of the briefing, saying that the matter was confidential.
Background
Talos and its two non-operating partners, Pre- mier Oil and Sierra Oil and Gas (a subsidiary of Wintershall Dea), won the right to explore Zama in 2015 and found oil there later in the same year.
The field is now believed to hold 700mn bar- rels of crude, making it the largest discovery ever made by private investors in Mexico.
Nevertheless, Talos has not had an easy time moving from exploration to development.
Some sections of Zama lie outside the compa-
ny’s licence area, extending into nearby blocks controlled by Pemex. 
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