Cheiron and DEA Deutsche Erdoel have won the rights to partner with Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, for the development of two onshore fields.

The two onshore blocks won by Egypt-based Cheiron and German firm DEA Deutsche Erdoel are Cárdenas-Mora and Ogarrio respectively during a bidding process held by the National Hydrocarbons Commission.

Cheiron won the rights to partner Pemex by offering an initial payment of $125m along with 13% additional royalties and a cash payment of $41.5m. Gran Tierra Mexico Energy Sierra Blanca was the other bidder for the block.

The Cárdenas-Mora block comprises the Cárdenas and Mora fields located 62kms from Villahermosa in the Mexican state of Tabasco. Put together, the Cárdenas and Mora fields have proven (1P) reserves of around 93 million barrels of crude oil equivalent (MMboe).

Both Pemex and Cheiron will hold a stake of 50% each in the Cárdenas-Mora block with the Egypt-based exploration and production company to take over operatorship.

On the other hand, the Hamburg-based oil and gas firm, DEA Deutsche Erdoel with an initial payment of $190m won the rights to partner Pemex for the Ogarrio field located in the Southeastern Basins.

DEA Deutsche will also pay $213.9m to the Mexican firm for the partnership rights along with an additional royalty of 13%. The German firm prevailed over Ogarrio E & P, California Resources Corporation PetroBal and Tecpetrol International Galem Energy which also took part in the bidding.

The Ogarrio field is a mature field with 3P reserves of 54 MMbpce of high quality light crude oil. It is located in the state of Veracruz, 65km off the Coatzacoalcos coast.

Pemex and DEA Deutsche will hold stakes of 50% each in the Ogarrio oil field with the German firm to become its operator.

During the bidding, there were no takers for the partnership rights for the shallow water block of Ayín-Batsil.

Pemex stated: “The two new farmouts that were finalized today are added to the bidding process of the deep-water block Trion, which was carried out this past December 5th. In this process, the Australian company BHP was the winner.

“Thus, Pemex has made significant progress in its joint venture strategy, which allows it to diversify and optimize its projects and investments portfolio.”

Image: Cheiron, DEA Deutsche to join Pemex for two onshore oil projects. Photo: courtesy of Vlado/Freedigitalphotos.net.