Qatar Petroleum has signed an agreement with Eni for the purchase of a 35% participating interest in three offshore oilfields in Area 1 in Mexico’s Campeche Bay.
The deal covers the Amoca, Mizton and Tecoalli oilfields and is subject to customary regulatory approvals from the Government of Mexico.
Once approved, it will enable both Eni and Qatar Petroleum to jointly have complete control of the Area 1 production sharing contract (PSC).
It is estimated that Area 1 holds 2.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with 90% of this being oil.
Qatar Petroleum president and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said: “This agreement marks another milestone for Qatar Petroleum as it strengthens its international footprint and expands its presence in Mexico.
“We are also excited about participating in this development in Mexico’s Campeche Bay, and with first oil production expected by mid-2019, we look forward to collaborating with Eni to ramp up production to around 90,000 barrels of oil per day by 2021.”
The phased development plan for Area 1 has already secured approval from the National Hydrocarbon Commission of Mexico, with early production expected by the middle of next year.
Initially, production is expected through a wellhead platform in the Mizton field and a multiphase pipeline for treatment at a current Pemex facility.
Full field production is scheduled to be achieved in 2021 through a floating production, storage and offloading facility with 90,000 barrels of daily oil treatment capacity.
Two new platforms are expected to be installed on the Amoca and the Tecoalli fields.
In January, Qatar Petroleum secured exploration rights in five offshore blocks in the Perdido and Campeche basins, in consortium with Shell and Eni.
Al-Kaabi further added: “These expansions go hand in hand with our previous announcements to develop and increase our natural gas production from 77 million tonnes per year to 110 million tonnes in the coming years, and to raise our production capability from 4.8 million barrels oil equivalent per day to 6.5 million barrels during the next decade.”
Recently, Qatar Petroleum expanded its presence to Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Cyprus, Congo, South Africa, Mozambique and Oman.
