Wintershall Dea acquires Mexican acreage

Wintershall Dea has signed a contract with Hokchi Energy for a minority share of the shallow-water Hokchi Block in Mexico, the German E&P company announced on Monday.

The agreement sees Wintershall Dea awarded a 37% non-operating share in the block, with an option to increase participation to 40%.

Cost of the transaction was not disclosed.

The deal is subject to government approval and is expected to close in Q1 2023.

Hokchi Energy is the Mexican subsidiary of Argentina’s Pan American Energy.

The block sits in the Sureste Basin and has been developed as a subsea tie-back to offshore platforms Satellite and Central. The gas is then delivered via pipeline to an onshore processing facility for sale to Pemex.

The development began production in May 2020 and currently produces 26,000 boepd, with plans to ramp up production to 37,000 boepd by 2023.

“The Hokchi Block is located in the Sureste Basin, where we already have a strong portfolio of promising licences and which is therefore familiar to us. It’s near our Zama, Polok and Chinwol discoveries as well as our own operated exploration Block 30,” said Martin Jungbluth, managing director of Wintershall Dea in Mexico.