BHP Billiton, PEMEX sign joint agreement for Gulf of Mexico oil field

BHP Billiton and PEMEX Exploration & Production Mexico (PEMEX) recently signed a contract to complete work on the Trion oil field recently discovered in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico offshore Mexico.

BHP Billiton will acquire a 60 percent participating interest in and operatorship of blocks AE-0092 and
AE-0093, which contain the Trion discovery. PEMEX will retain a 40 percent interest in the blocks. According to the contract, the companies agree to complete a Minimum Work Program, which entails drilling one appraisal well, one exploration well and attaining additional seismic data.

The agreement was signed at the Official Residence of the President in Mexico City with President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie, and PEMEX CEO José Antonio González Anaya attending.

“It is an honour to be the first foreign company to partner with the people of Mexico in developing their significant petroleum resources for mutual benefit,” Mackenzie said.

Once fully appraised, the Trion oil field is projected to be among the top 10 fields discovered in the Gulf of Mexico in the past decade. PEMEX approximates the gross recoverable resource to be 485 million barrels of oil equivalent.

“This agreement constitutes a parting of the waters in the history of PEMEX,” Anaya said. “For the first time, an area assigned during the Round Zero auction, will be progressed in partnership with a world leading company.”