Mexican operator entrusts French firm with work on its $4.5 billion oil project

Mexico’s state-owned petroleum heavyweight Pemex has hired Doris, a French engineering player, on a front-end engineering and design (FEED) assignment for the development of its giant oil field in the Sureste Basin off the coast of Mexico.

The FEED work, based on the scope of the unit development plan approved by the Mexican Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) last year, is for the Zama oil project off the coast of Tabasco state, whose development is expected to require a $4.5 billion injection of capital, covering the planning of two offshore platforms, 68 kilometers of pipelines and cables as well as a new onshore facility, fully dedicated to the project, located in the Dos Bocas Maritime Terminal, in Paraiso, Tabasco.

Sylvain Petiteau, Vice President of Zama Project, remarked: “The award of the FEED is a great result thanks to the good cooperation in our Integrated Project Team (IPT), in which colleagues from all four Zama partner companies work together on this extensive and important key project every day. I am pleased that we are making good progress, together, as one team.”

During this FEED assignment, Doris will work with the two Mexican engineering companies, Nomarna and Summum. The Zama Unit partners intend to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity with technology, produce gas for onshore power generation, and utilization of existing storage and transport infrastructure.     

Martin Jungbluth, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Mexico, commented: “Zama is currently one of the most important energy projects in Mexico and we are very pleased to have reached the next milestone. Our goal is to develop this large field safely, in the most efficient timeline and in the best possible technical way. With Doris we have a very experienced partner for the FEED phase at our side.”

After the studies have been finalized, the unit partnership plans to move forward with the tendering process of the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts, followed by the final investment decision (FID) for the project. Zama’s 30-year production sharing contract (PSC) is slated to expire in 2049.

Discovered in 2017 by Talos, the Zama field was fully evaluated in 2019. This is a shared reservoir that extends from the Talos-operated Block 7 to neighboring Pemex AE-0152-Uchukil Asignación in the Bay of Campeche in Mexico. A final unitisation resolution (UR) regarding the development of the Zama shallow water field came in 2022.

The operator of the oil field is Pemex and has, according to the unitization resolution from March 2022, an initial participation of 50.43%, while other partners hold the remaining interests, with Wintershall Dea having 19.83%, Talos Energy 17.35%, and Harbour Energy 12.39%. 

Once on stream, the field is expected to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, which corresponds to around 10% of Mexico’s current total oil production. Zama is estimated to contain gross resources of 600 to 800 million barrels of oil equivalent.