Mexican regulators approve new area for farm-out

Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) approved another of Pemex’s blocks for farm-out auction on Tuesday.

The deepwater Chachiquin block will be the fourth to be offered under a joint operating agreement with the NOC, possibly this year.

Located in the Perdido Fold Belt near another area to be farmed out, Maximino-Nobilis, the newly approved block is expected to produce as much as 80,000 bopd at its peak.

Though the CNH has said that development work at Chachiquin will begin as early as 2024, the regulator has not set an official date of auction.

The decision to farm out Chachiquin follows last month’s announcement that the Maximino-Nobilis area would be offered under a partnership with Pemex.

Maximino already has two wells, and a super-light oil discovery was made at the Nobilis field in September 2016. Together, the fields are estimated to hold around 500 million boe in 3P resources. The CNH hopes to find a partner for these fields by December.

Other areas to be farmed out in 2017 include the shallow-water Ayin and Batsil fields, which will be offered in June, and the onshore Cárdenas Mora and Ogarrio fields, which will be auctioned in October.