MEXICO CITY, Oct. 1 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni said it secured a production sharing contract to help develop oil fields off the eastern coast of Mexico.
Eni said it won all of the shares in three oil fields included under what the Mexican government categorized as Area 1 during the latest government auction.
The Italian company said the combined reserves for the three fields are approximately 800 million barrels of oil and 480 billion cubic feet of associated gas. Eni said it would move quickly on an appraisal campaign to confirm the reserve estimates with the ultimate goal of fast-track development.
“Area 1 will be operated by the new company Eni Mexico,” the company added.
Eni was among the largest winners in the Mexican auction. The Wall Street Journal reports two areas on the auction block received no bids.
Earlier this year, the Mexican government auctioned off rights to 14 tracts covering an estimated 2,600 square miles with reserve estimates of around 686 million barrels of oil equivalent, with most of that existing as light crude oil. The auction drew interest from mid-sized energy companies like Australia’s Woodside Petroleum, though few of the supermajors like French energy company Total registered for the bidding round.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto moved last year to open Mexico up to private investors after more than 70 years under a monopoly controlled by state-run Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
The president set a goal of producing 3.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2025, which would be a 40 percent increase from 2013 levels. With reforms in place, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Mexican production holds steady at around 2.9 million bpd through 2020.
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