Energy News Beat Publishers Note: The United States needs to increase oil trade with Canada and Mexico to minimize our reliance on foreign influences. Current policies are not taking the world political situations into consideration.
“The discovery demonstrates the success of Pemex’s change in exploration strategy,” Pemex director Octavio Romero said during the 83rd anniversary of Mexico’s oil expropriation today.
Pemex has largely left behind deepwater exploration during Lopez Obrador’s administration, focusing instead on onshore and shallow-water exploration to reduce costs.
The Dzimpona discovery will form part of the new General Francisco Mugica production complex in Tabasco that will include the Valeriana and Racemosa fields, Romero said.
Pemex expects to drill 66 wells across the new production complex over the next two years with production to hit 138,000 b/d by the end of 2022.
Lopez Obrador reinforced his commitment to restore Pemex’s dominance over Mexico’s oil sector today, confirming that no fresh upstream contracts will be awarded during his administration but that the existing 111 contracts will be respected.
“I have fulfilled my pledge to tap the breaks on the privatization of the energy sector,” Lopez Obrador said today. “The Mexican people will be the only owners of our oil.”
Meanwhile, Pemex expects to drill 33 wells this year in its 2019 Quesqui discovery — the first discovery of the administration — with output expected to reach 289,000 b/d by December.
Development of the new complex and the Quesqui discovery, combined with the production in 17 new fields launched since 2019, will increase production to 2mn b/d of crude by year-end from the 1.63mn b/d produced in January. Mexico has not increased its production by that much since the 1970s, analyst Gonzalo Monroy said.
Development of Pemex’s 17 priority fields has lagged since its launch, with output down by 73pc on the planned 222,000 b/d in the third quarter of 2020. But production will rise to 460,000 b/d by December from the current 160,000 b/d, Romero said.
The new discoveries will also help Pemex surpass its annual target to add 1.3bn boe of reserves, Romero said, with 2.39bn boe in 3P reserves to be incorporated this year.
But in a change from previous policy, Lopez Obrador said Pemex would only seek to increase output to 2mn b/d by 2024 — down from the original 2.6mn b/d target — to replace 100pc of reserves every year.