Talos Energy makes historic Mexico find

Premier Oil has announced a "world class" oil discovery at the Zama-1 well in block No. 7, which the company is developing with its JV partners Talos Energy (the operator) and Sierra Oil & Gas.

Preliminary analysis indicates initial gross original oil in place of in excess of 1Bb, which could extend into a neighboring block, UK-based Premier said in a release.

A contiguous gross oil bearing interval of over 335m, with up to 200m of net oil bearing reservoir in upper miocene sandstones with no water contact. Initial tests of hydrocarbon samples recovered to the surface contain light oil, with API gravities between 28° and 30° and some associated gas, the company said.

The significance of the discovery was underscored by Pablo Medina, senior analyst for Latin America upstream at Wood Mackenzie.

"The Zama discovery by Talos is the most important achievement so far of the Mexico's energy reform. According to our data, Zama is one of the 20 largest shallow-water fields discovered globally in the past 20 years," Medina told BNamericas.

"Zama is the first find by a private company in Mexico in almost 80 years," he added

The Zama-1 well, which was spudded in May, is the first offshore exploration well drilled by the private sector in Mexico's history. Premier holds a 25% interest in block No. 7, which was awarded in last year's first shallow water auction.

Also read: Mexico's oil and gas auctions begin to bear fruit

The well is located in 166m of water and approximately 60km offshore from Dos Bocas, and has reached an initial shallow target depth of 3,38m. Talos Energy is currently setting a liner to protect the discovered reservoirs, prior to drilling deeper exploratory objectives to a total vertical depth of approximately 4,200m.

Talos Energy CEO Tim Duncan said: "We are eager to begin appraising this discovery and drilling more unique opportunities. The future is bright for offshore Mexico for years to come."

Premier Oil CEO Tony Durrant said: "We have encountered a very substantial oil bearing interval which indicates over 1Bb of oil in place, a commercial standalone development which adds materially to Premier's portfolio of assets worldwide. It is particularly pleasing that our strategy of focusing our exploration portfolio on high impact opportunities in proven but under-drilled basins has led to this world class discovery with our first well in Mexico."