U.S., Japanese firms join to explore Mexican deepwater oilfields

Mexico's national oil company Pemex formed its first ever consortium with American and Japanese firms, to explore and extract oil from Mexican deepwaters on Tuesday.

In a ceremony in Mexico City, Pemex signed its partnership with U.S. giant Chevron and Japan's Inpex, to explore a block measuring 1,687 square km in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of the country's northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

Pemex director Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya said the company would apply the best international practices to develop deepwater oilfields at the event, with highly specialized technology and risk sharing.

The three companies jointly won the license to the Third Northern Bloc in the Plegado Perdido Belt.

Pemex predicts that the first four years of exploration will require an investment of 100 million pesos (about 5 million U.S. dollars) to define the field's reserves at depths between 500-1,800 meters.

Clay Neff, Chevron's new president for Latin America and Africa, said that the contract was a landmark in Chevron's collaboration with Pemex over two decades.

Inpex's Vice-President for America and Africa, Shuhei Miyamoto, also pointed out this alliance would be key to further develop Japan-Mexico relations.

According to Gonzalez Anaya, Pemex will take advantage of its alliance's technologies and capacities to strengthen operation and to make its production more profitable, safe and sustainable.

Chevron is the world leader in deepwater operation and produces around 3 million barrels of crude oil a day.

Inpex is Japan's largest exploration and production oil company, with 70 projects in over 20 countries. Endi