Signs point to a ‘mega’ oil field in Yucatán

El Financiero newspaper reports there are signs of an oil formation off Yucatan that could be similar to that of the”Pre-salt” polygon in Brazil, the second largest hydrocarbon reserve in the world.

A technical evaluation of the marine subsoil near Yucatan revealed a possible existence of large hydrocarbon reserves in a region for which access for exploration will be tendered soon. Although there is no certainty about the existence of such resources, the finding has already caught the government’s attention.

According to Ernesto Marcos Giacomán, director of Marcos y Asociados Consultant, the largest block recently included in the forthcoming Round 2.4, which will be held on January 31, 2018, could eventually be compared to the pre-salt oil deposit in Brazil.

“We are assisting a Norwegian company which came to do an oil exploration on the Yucatan Platform. They discovered a very similar or even larger pre-structure than the one from Brazil, so if this is confirmed, it would definitely be like opening a new border between Yucatán and the whole world,” he expressed.

In fact, this block [#30] was not initially within Round 2.4. However, “new information” caused the Secretariat of Energy (SENER), which is in charge of deciding which blocks and at what rhythms should they tender, to change their mind.

“Due to the information we receive constantly fluctuating, the Five-Year Plan is updated year by year. In the case of the Yucatan Platform, we received nominations and additional information that suggested a potential discovery in an area that had not been thoroughly explored before”, mentioned Aldo Flores Quiroga, SENER’s subsecretary.

Additionally, Juan Carlos Zepeda, president of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) stated that “there is no discovery until the place is drilled. Nonetheless, it can only be drilled if there is an exploration and production authorization contract.”

Moreover, it is worth-mentioning that the CNH decided to delay the Round 2.4 tender for one month, allowing the agency to analyze the newly information assiduously. According to them, there are only three Norwegian companies that have conducted these type of studies and analysis in the Yucatan Platform, which are TGS; Spectrum, and PGS.

SOURCE: El Financiero