Eni lines up Mexican spudding approvals for 2023

Italian oil and gas giant Eni was authorized to spud two exploration wells off the Mexican coast during the latest meeting by hydrocarbons regulator CNH. 

The Italian firm said it would spud the Yatzil shallow water well off the coast of Tabasco and Veracruz states in early 2023, and then the Nabté deepwater well off the coast of Veracruz immediately afterwards, starting in February. Both operations will use the same rig, Valaris DPS-5.

For the former, a part of Eni's Area 7 contract, the firm expects to find 86Mboe in new prospective resources. For the second, it expects to find 230Mboe for a total investment of US$66.2mn. 

Eni also said its plans to spud Yatzil, originally slated for the end of 2022, had been postponed because the contracted rig had taken more time than expected to spud the Tulum deepwater well, operated by Murphy Sur.

PEMEX FIELDS

During a separate extraordinary session, CNH cleared updated plans by Pemex to increase production at two legacy onshore fields, Santa Águeda in Veracruz state and Campo Comitas in Nuevo León. 

The firm said it would spend US$124mn at Santa Águeda to add a new well and increase output by 30%. At Campo Comitas, Pemex expects to spud 28 new wells and increase gas volumes by 20% for a total outlay of US$194mn.

During the same session, CNH allowed Pantera Exploración y Producción to give up portions of four contracts, A5.BG through A9.BG, while Jaguar Exploración y Producción partially gave up its VC-03 contract. Capricorn Energy gave up all of G-TMV-01.