US firm offloads additional stake in big offshore oil field to Mexican conglomerate

Houston-based oil and gas player Talos Energy has made arrangements to divest a further stake in its subsidiary, Talos Mexico, which holds an interest in a giant oil field off the coast of Mexico, to Zamajal, a subsidiary of the Mexico-headquartered Grupo Carso conglomerate.

Following the recent completion of a deal Talos Energy made in May 2023 with Grupo Carso, a company controlled by the family of the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, to sell a 49.9% interest in its Mexican subsidiary, which has a 17.4% stake in the Pemex-operated Zama oil field, the company took steps to dispose of an additional stake in the field to the same firm.

As a result, the U.S. player will sell an additional 30.1% interest in Talos Mexico, transferring it to Zamajal, an entity owned 90% by Grupo Carso, and 10% by Control Empresarial de Capitales, which also owns approximately 24% of Talos’ common stock.

The U.S. firm will get $49.7 million in cash at closing, with an additional $33 million due upon first commercial production from the Zama field for an aggregate price of $82.7 million. Upon closing, Talos Mexico will be owned 20% by Talos Energy and 80% by Zamajal. The company holds a 17.4% interest in the Zama field.

The sale is expected to close upon the receipt of all regulatory approvals. Once commercial production is achieved from the Zama field, the company expects to receive $82.9 million in cash contingent considerations, comprising $33 million from the current transaction and $49.9 million from the earlier equity interest transaction.

Joseph Mills, Talos Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to execute this important transaction with Carso on Zama, crystallizing benefits to Talos’s stockholders. This transaction allows us to maximize stockholder returns, maintain our involvement in Zama and contribute to its continued progress.”  

Mexico’s Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) gave its blessing for the Zama unit development plan in June 2023, enabling the unit’s integrated project team to progress the front-end engineering and design and other work streams required to reach a final investment decision (FID).

Moreover, Pemex and its partners intend to inject $4.5 billion of capital into the Zama development, with production from the field anticipated in December 2025, followed by a peak production rate of 180,000 barrels per day of oil and 70.35 million ft3 per day of gas in 2029.

In June 2024, Pemex picked Doris to undertake a front-end engineering and design (FEED) assignment for the development of the Zama oil field in the Sureste Basin. The asset’s 30-year production sharing contract (PSC) is due to expire in 2049.

Once the FEED is completed, 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 for the project.

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

Pemex is the operator of the oil field, according to the unitization resolution from March 2022. The list of the firm’s partners contains Wintershall Dea, now Harbour Energy, and Talos Energy. The field is forecast to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak.

This is said to correspond 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.