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Pemex, BHP Billiton sign deal to explore Trion oilfield

Xinhua, March 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Mexico's national oil company Pemex and the Australian giant, BHP Billiton, signed on Friday a contract to jointly explore the Trion deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, at an investment cost of 11 billion U.S. dollars.

BHP Billiton's executive director, Andrew McKenzie, said at the signing ceremony that his company was delighted to be cooperating with Mexico through this 35-year contract and would bring its six decades of energy experience to help.

"We hope for a great future and we are delighted to be associated with Mexico," said McKenzie.

Located 200 kilometers off the coast of Mexico's northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Trion has proven, probable and possible (3P) reserves of 485 million barrels, and its estimated production could peak at 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

At the ceremony, Juan Carlos Zepeda, president of Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission, said that the Mexican government and Pemex would receive 72.4 percent of the revenue from the project.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto also announced that Mexico has received investment commitments worth 70 billion U.S. dollars in the hydrocarbon and energy sectors, thanks to the Energy Reform.

The president said these would come from 48 companies from 14 countries which had shown a real commitment to the Mexican energy sector.

"Mexico will remain a point of attraction, investment and growth for global companies," he added.

Concerning the future of Pemex, the national oil company, Peña Nieto said it was seeing a new chapter in its history with the private sector and that it would help Mexico guarantee its energy security and sovereignty, without giving up its resources.

Peña Nieto said that thanks to the Energy Reform passed in 2014, Mexico would enjoy its energy resources in the medium and long term."

While the Energy Reform was controversial at its inception, due to allowing private sector access to national oil resources, the president said it allowed the country to enjoy a structural change that had been needed for many years for Pemex to grow.

"Without the new mechanisms and instruments made possible by the Energy Reform, it would be difficult for...it to modernize," explained Peña Nieto.

He added that, with the Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico seeing production declining, agreements such as the one with BHP Billiton will allow Pemex to access new deepwater resources. Enditem