Mexico’s Biggest Private Oil Find Will Be Operated by State-Owned Pemex
- Talos says move came days after Pemex argued to be operator
- It ends long-standing dispute between drillers Talos and Pemex
Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg
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Mexico’s energy ministry has designated Petroleos Mexicanos as the operator of the country’s largest oil discovery by private companies, in the latest sign of the government’s nationalist approach to the energy industry.
The Zama field, discovered in 2017 by a private consortium led by Talos Energy Inc., will be operated by the state-owned producer, according to a statement by Talos on Monday. The resolution ends a long-standing conflict between Pemex, as the state company is known, and the Houston-based producer over the field in Mexico’s Campeche Bay, which contains as many as one billion barrels of oil equivalent.