MEXICO.- Before the richest man in Mexico, Carlos Slimwas allowed in days gone by to be a part of the oil extraction in Zamaone of the most important deposits in the entire history of the country, the tycoon had a long list of failures in the energy sector.
It was a little bet. His first round in this business profile was not even in Mexico, but in South America. There bought 8.4% of shares of the state oil company YPF in Argentina but he soon sold half, after losses in these and other of his companies.
In 2011 bought 70% of the oil company Tabasco Oil Company in Colombia to explore and produce hydrocarbons in two blocks in that country that took many years to revert the profits. In 2015 it stopped activities and not reactive until two years later.
parallel in Mexico it created Carso Energy as a holding company for other energy companies; Carso Electric, Carso Energías Alternas and Carso Oil & Gas.
Through these, it began to carry out activities of exploration, location, production, transportation, purchase and sale of oil, gas and minerals, as well as geothermal energy and operation of hydroelectric plants in his country.
But he had little participation. By 2017, she had only won two of the 10 contests she participated in after the Energy Reform.
“Like any individual, it had an interesting, but marginal, role,” explained Miriam Grunstein, of Rice University’s Centro México. “Marginal due to the size of Pemex, but it grew little by little.”
At the end of the six-year term of Enrique Peña acquired the rights to the Jagüeyes 3432B and Llanos 56 oil blocks; then won in partnership with Energy Transfer Partners and Master an international tender by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to build and operate the Waha-Presidio and Waha-San Elizario gas pipelines.
That same year, also a contract was awarded for the transportation of natural gas on the Samalayuca-Sásabe route with a term of 35 years; two concessions for exploration and exploitation of geothermal resources in the areas of Celaya and Mexicali for 30 years.
Meanwhile, in Colombia for 2018 it began to have income of 72 million pesos, but its operating expenses were 507.3 million pesos.
“Carso had no experience in these areas and he risked entering a new market where he had to explore opportunities,” explained Adrián Calcaneo, director of Midstream and Liquids for IHS Markit at the time.
The López Obrador factor
With the arrival of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the presidency, Slim Helú was one of the main actors in a tense negotiation on gas pipelines and gas transportation rates between the CFE, Carso Energy and other companies that ended in 2019 with the extension of contracts .
That same year, Carso Infraestructura y Construcción obtained a contract from Pemex to build two offshore platforms and, in 2021, a contract to drill and complete wells in Pemex onshore fields.
After the escalation, the biggest prize came: Slim convinced the American company Talos and its partners – the German Wintershall Dea and the British Harbor – to sell him 49.9% of their shares and thus partner in the extraction of oil in the largest field. discovered in the last decade with an oil income for Mexico estimated at 31,000 million dollars.
To achieve this, it would have to receive the approval of the antitrust regulator, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), subordinate to Executive López Obrador, who has already given his approval.
“Carso is the right partner at the right time,” said Timothy S. Duncan, CEO of Talos.
Carlos Slim has been an ally of López Obrador for decadessince he was head of Government of the Mexican capital.
In Zama, Pemex will have a 50.4% stake after a bitter negotiation process in which the US company threatened to take the Mexican State to international courts.
Located off the coast of Tabasco, in the Gulf of Mexico, and relatively shallow, Zama contains lighter crude that is more profitable than the heavier crude that Mexico normally produces.
Due to its characteristics, it is considered among the 10 largest deposits in the country’s history and a blessing in times of a decline in national production.
It was the first discovered by a private company after the 2013 energy reform that ended the monopoly of the state company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) on hydrocarbons, but its control and operation was in debate.
López Obrador fought for control of the state for a long time. Zama had been delivered to Talos in the concession rounds in the Peña Nieto government (2012-2018) and is located right next to another deposit that did not enter the concession round to individuals, but was operated by Pemex.
When the exploration work was carried out, it was determined that the State field was larger and, according to the legislation, when there are two wells together, the company that operates the joint field is the one with the most potential, in this case, the one with more oil, so that in the public-private partnership, Pemex was left with more than 50%.
After the announcement of the purchase of shares by Carlos Slim, López Obrador celebrated the way in which the distribution of the extraction finally turned out. “First it will be Pemex and, among the individuals, there is a Mexican company and three foreign companies, one from the United States and two from Europe (in association with Talos).”
“What’s next?”, he was asked at a press conference.
—Exploration wells have already been drilled, the potential is already available and it will guarantee, in the medium term, we will no longer be in the government, but from 2025 production begins and in 2029, they may be extracting from 150 to 180,000 barrels per day of crude oil, Olmec, that is, light, of very good quality, the most expensive on the international market.
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