At the beginning of this year, the U.S. company Talos, as part of its strategy to improve as a private company and as a fundamental figure that led the work for the discovery of the Zama field in 2017, which is considered one of the largest oil discoveries in the hands of private companies, decided to sell 49% of the shares of its subsidiary in Mexico to Grupo Carso, owned by Carlos Slim.
For this transaction, Talos received approximately $74.8 million dollars upon closing and will receive $49.9 million upon the first oil production, and retains a 17.4 interest in the Zama offshore field, which it shares with the state-owned company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which operates the field. Pemex and the private consortium led by Talos will spend $9,000 million dollars to advance the field’s development, which is estimated to begin production in 2025 and reach a peak of 180,000 barrels of oil per day in 2029, according to data provided by Arturo Solís to Bloomberg Linea magazine.
This mega field has also been one of the reasons for dispute between the private sector and the government. The discussion on the operation of the field, which was the first discovered by private companies after the oil rounds, lasted for more than two years, as Talos and Pemex disputed the ownership of its operation, which finally remained in the hands of the state-owned company Petróleos Mexicanos.
