[ad_1]
The Mexican government has granted control of one of the most important countries in the country oil discoveries to state-owned Pemex, after months of deliberations, which dealt a severe blow to private investment and raised the prospect of international litigation.
A consortium formed by Talos Energy of the United States, the first British oil company and the German Wintershall DEA discovered the Zama field of about 700 million barrels in 2017 and have so far invested $ 325 million in the project.
But part of the project extends to the surface owned by Pemex, which sparked a battle over who should be at the helm. Now the Ministry of Energy has ruled in favor of the state-owned company, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sees as the national champion.
A la letter posted on Twitter by energy consultant Gonzalo Monroy, Energy Minister Rocío Nahle named Pemex operator of the discovery and said companies should submit a development plan within 30 days.
Neither the government nor Pemex had any immediate reaction to the news, which was made public on Monday. The announcement came days after a Pemex pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire, prompting a flaming the sea.
Lourdes Melgar, a former undersecretary of hydrocarbons, said Pemex did not want the field when the sector opened up to private investment under Mexico’s energy reform in 2013. “This is a scandal,” she said. “It’s not exactly an expropriation, but it’s close.”
Nahle said his decision was based on a study by the National Hydrocarbons Commission, which concluded that Pemex has “favorable technical and operational conditions and characteristics” to develop the field.
He quoted Octavio Romero, CEO of Pemex, as saying the company had “sufficient financial capacity”. Pemex posted a first-quarter loss of nearly $ 2 billion.
Pemex said it owns 50.43 percent of the field, located 60 km off the Gulf Coast in the state of Tabasco, while the consortium claims to own 60 percent.
However, the consortium said these percentages usually change as the wells are drilled. Pemex has not drilled a well on its surface, while the consortium has drilled one exploratory well and three wells.
“This is a direct signal to the market in terms of how this government sees private sector investment in the Mexican energy industry,” said Emily Medina, a fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation. “It looks like the government is definitely favoring Pemex over the Talos.”
“We cannot let them be at the forefront, given the state of their operations and their business,” said a senior consortium official, who was not authorized to be appointed. He said it was likely to be a litigation under the USMCA’s free trade agreement.
The official mentioned concerns about Pemex’s finances and technical expertise given the depth and geological conditions of the field, as well as security issues, including a lack of provision to prevent the collapse of the wells.
Analysts say Zama oil is at a depth of about 168 m. The deepest Pemex that has been drilled so far is about 110 m.
Since taking office in 2018, López Obrador has stopped oil auctions and joint ventures with the private sector. On Monday he cited Nahle, an ardent energy nationalist, as one of the possible successors to the presidency when his 2024 term ends.
[ad_2]
Source link
