DEA, Ecopetrol enter shallow water E&P deals with Pemex

Mexican oil company Pemex has signed exploration and production contracts in shallow waters with Deutsche Erdoel AG (DEA) and Ecopetrol.

Pemex said on Monday that the areas corresponded to Blocks 2 and 8 from Round 2.1, which were included in the bidding process by the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH).

The signing ceremony was presided over by the Minister of Energy, Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, and the president of the CNH, Juan Carlos Zepeda.

The contracts were signed by the CEO of Pemex Exploración y Producción, Javier Hinojosa, and by Juan Manuel Delgado and Felipe Bayón, representatives of DEA and Ecopetrol, respectively.

“These new contracts will allow the companies to jointly explore shallow waters, where PEP has proven to have the necessary technical and operating capacities, sharing the technical, operating and financial risks,” said Pemex.

Apart from these new deals, the company is currently engaged in joint ventures in deep waters with BHP in the Trion block and with Chevron and Inpex in Block 3.

Regarding the Block 2, Pemex is the operating partner and holds a participation of 70 percent and is the first license participation for DEA in Mexico. This block covers a surface of 549 square kilometers and is located in the offshore portion of the Tampico-Misantla basin, to the west of the Gulf of Mexico.

In a separate announcement, Delgado, president of DEA Mexico, said: “We are pleased to now start the joint exploration work together with our partner and operator Pemex in this ambitious project. Deutsche Erdoel will actively contribute to the partnership, with our extensive technical knowledge and experience from numerous international onshore and offshore operations, to generate considerable value for the project”.

In Block 8, Pemex is the operator and holds a participation interest of 50 percent. This area is located in the Southwestern Basins and covers a surface of 586 square kilometers. The remaining operating interest is now held by Ecopetrol.

Pemex added that the geological conditions and the type of oil deposits expected to be found in these fields were similar to those in the areas that have been operated by PEP for the past 40 years.

Offshore Energy Today Staff