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Italy’s supermajor Eni has announced a new natural gas discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, in the mid-deep waters off the Mexican coast.
The discovery contains an estimated potential reserve of 300 to 400 million barrels of oil equivalent, the company said.
The block where Eni was drilling for gas is in the Sureste Basin, where Eni has an estimated total of over 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in resources in place. The company plans to turn the area in what it called “a hub development”, tapping several discoveries in the area.
The news about Eni’s discovery comes on the heels of a report that Carlos Slim, Mexico’s wealthiest man, is investing $1.2 billion in the development of another gas field offshore—the Lakach project led by state energy major Pemex.
Mexico has been expanding its gas-powered generation, building new power plants, and consequently developing more of its gas resources to reduce its overwhelming dependence on imports from its northern neighbor, with imports running at record rates.
Mexico recently updated its proven oil and gas reserves estimate, revising the total upwards, to a total of 8.383 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Proven reserves, classified as P1, are the best estimate of recoverable resources under current technological and economic conditions.
According to Mexican government data, released in June by the National Hydrocarbons Commission, Mexico’s proven crude oil reserves declined slightly to 5.978 billion barrels from 6.155 billion barrels the previous year. However, proven natural gas reserves saw a significant increase, rising to 12.297 trillion cubic feet from 11.029 trillion cubic feet.
Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to boost investments in natural gas generation. Sheinbaum’s energy plan envisages the addition of some 13.7 GW of new power generation capacity to the grid over the next six years, with a portion of this coming from solar installations. For context, Mexico is set to add 3.3 GW in new capacity from gas and solar this year.
