FEED contract award for the Zama project offshore Mexico

• Important progress in Mexico’s key energy project
• DORIS has been awarded the FEED for the Zama unit development
• Two offshore platforms, 68 kilometers of pipelines and cables and a new onshore facility to be designed

Mexico City / Kassel / Hamburg. The Zama Unit partners Wintershall Dea, Pemex (operator), Talos Energy and Harbour Energy have awarded the Front-End Engineering and Design contract (FEED) for the development of the world-class Zama oil field to the French engineering company DORIS. 

“Zama is currently one of the most important energy projects in Mexico and we are very pleased to have reached the next milestone”, says Martin Jungbluth, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Mexico. “Our goal is to develop this large field safely, in the most efficient timeline and in the best possible technical way. With DORIS we have a very experienced partner for the FEED phase at our side.”

The FEED work will be based on the scope of the Unit Development Plan approved by the Mexican Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) last year. It covers the planning of two offshore platforms, 68 kilometers of pipelines and cables as well as a new onshore facility, fully dedicated to the Zama project, located in the Dos Bocas Maritime Terminal, in Paraiso, Tabasco. The Zama Unit partnership also plans to minimize greenhouse gas intensity by using the best available technology, produced gas for onshore power generation, as well as best use of existing storage and transport infrastructure.     

DORIS will collaborate with the two Mexican engineering companies NOMARNA and SUMMUM to carry out the FEED work. 

“The award of the FEED is a great result thanks to the good cooperation in our Integrated Project Team (IPT), in which colleagues from all four Zama partner companies work together on this extensive and important key project every day. I am pleased that we are making good progress, together, as one team”, underlines Sylvain Petiteau, Vice President Zama Project.

Zama is one of the world's largest shallow water discoveries in the last 20 years and was the first discovery made by an international consortium in Mexico in 2017. With estimated gross resources of 600 to 800 million barrels of oil equivalent, Zama is expected to make a significant contribution to Mexico's energy supply over the next 25 years, creating activity that will support the growth of the country's energy sector and generate a large number of jobs in the coming years. The field is expected to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, which corresponds to around 10% of Mexico's current total oil production.

Once these studies have been finalized, the Zama Unit partnership will proceed with the tendering process of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts, followed by the Final Investment Decision.

Wintershall Dea is the second largest shareholder in the Zama field after operator Pemex and holds, according to the Unitisation Resolution from March 2022, an initial participation of 19.83%, while Pemex holds 50.43%, Talos Energy 17.35% and Harbour Energy 12.39%. 

Wintershall Dea set foot in Mexico in 2017. The company has started exploring for and producing hydrocarbons in Mexico in 2018. Since then, the company has managed to establish itself as one of the leading international upstream companies in Mexico, with interests in licences in all phases of the E&P value chain.

With a 50 per cent share, Wintershall Dea has been operator of the producing onshore Ogarrio oil field since 2018. The Mexican state company Pemex is a partner and holds the remaining shares. Furthermore, the company is a partner in the producing Hokchi field. The latest success was a major oil discovery in Wintershall Dea’s operated Block 30 (‘Kan Prospect’), estimated to contain 200 to 300 million barrels oil equivalent in place. In addition, Wintershall Dea has material interests in further offshore exploration blocks located in the Gulf of Mexico, three of them as operator.

_{About Wintershall Dea}

_{Wintershall Dea is a leading independent European gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 11 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business. And we develop carbon management and low carbon hydrogen projects to contribute to climate goals and secure energy supplies. More in our Annual Report.}

_{As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutrality target. As our contribution we have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to be net zero across our entire upstream operations – both operated and non-operated – by 2030. This includes Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis. Wintershall Dea will also bring its methane emissions intensity below 0.1 per cent by 2025. We endorsed the World Bank’s Initiative ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ and continue to support the initiative aimed at eliminating routine flaring in operated assets by 2030. In addition, we plan to support global decarbonisation efforts by building up a carbon management and hydrogen business to potentially abate 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2040. You can find more about this in our Sustainability Report.}

_{Wintershall Dea was formed from the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, in 2019. Today, the company employs more than 2,000 people worldwide from almost 60 nations.}

_{The shareholders of Wintershall Dea (BASF and LetterOne) and Harbour Energy plc (Harbour) signed a business combination agreement in December 2023 to transfer Wintershall Dea’s E&P business consisting of its producing and development assets as well as exploration rights in Norway, Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Algeria, Libya (excluding Wintershall AG), Egypt and Denmark (excluding Ravn) as well as Wintershall Dea’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) licenses to Harbour. Until closing, Wintershall Dea and Harbour will continue to operate as independent companies. The transaction is, among other things, subject to approvals of merger control and foreign investment authorities in several countries. Subject to these regulatory approvals, closing is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2024. See the full BASF release here.}