Mexico Strong portfolio, Growth and Technology Transfer
Wintershall Dea first set foot in Mexico in 2017. Since then, the company’s presence in what is one of the most promising energy markets worldwide has been nothing short of a true success story.
The Zama oil field in the Gulf of Mexico is considered to be one of the world's biggest shallow-water oil discoveries in the past 20 years.
Wintershall Dea has established itself as one of the leading international upstream companies in Mexico, with interests in licences in all phases of the E&P value chain. Mexico has quickly gone from Wintershall Dea’s newest markets to one of its most important and fastest growing business units. It has some of the world’s largest proven reserves. With its significant projects, Wintershall Dea contributes to the further development of the Mexican energy sector and diversifies its global portfolio.
Where we operate in Mexico
Onshore to offshore, Wintershall Dea is active in numerous exploration, development and production projects in Mexico. These include the onshore Ogarrio oil field, where Wintershall Dea is operator, holding a 50% share. Ogarrio was discovered in 1957 and currently has around 80 active wells. In the Gulf of Mexico, particularly the Sureste Basin, Wintershall Dea is a key player with shares in ten offshore exploration blocks, three as operator.
A string of milestones in early 2023 have underlined the company’s commitment to the national energy market. Major progress is underway in Mexico.
The latest success was a major oil discovery in Block 30 (‘Kan Prospect’), estimated to contain 200 to 300 million barrels oil equivalent in place. Elsewhere in the Sureste Basin, Wintershall Dea is contributing to Mexico’s future energy supply with a material stake in the producing Hokchi Block and the world class Zama field.
Up to
180,000
barrels of oil per day could be produced at the Zama field.
Over
500
wells have been drilled since the Ogarrio field was discovered in 1957.
200
to 300 million barrels of oil equivalent could be contained in place in the Kan discovery.
Hydrocarbons produced at Hokchi are piped over a distance of 24 kilometres from the two offshore platforms to a dedicated onshore processing facility.
Hokchi Block – producing field in the Sureste basin
In March 2023, Wintershall Dea completed the acquisition of a material stake in the Hokchi Block, offshore Mexico, with a production of about 27,000 boe per day gross (March 2023). Wintershall Dea now holds a 37% non-operated interest in the block, making the company the second largest interest holder after operator Hokchi Energy.
The shallow-water block Hokchi is developed as a subsea tie-back of the producing wells to two offshore platforms, Hokchi Central and Hokchi Satellite, and was brought on-stream in May 2020 following an appraisal campaign. With the acquisition, Wintershall Dea further expanded its portfolio and strengthened its presence in Mexico.
Ogarrio – Mature field with future potential
In 2018, Wintershall Dea received a 50 per cent licence share as well as the operatorship of the Ogarrio onshore oil field. Ogarrio is one of the first producing oil fields in Mexico where – following liberalisation of the energy sector – an international company acts as operator. The field is located about 107 kilometres west of Villahermosa, in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. With operational expertise, competence and agility, the teams in Mexico and Germany have successfully managed the complex and comprehensive process of taking over operatorship of the field in a very short time, immediately after Wintershall Dea's market entry.
The main reservoirs in Ogarrio are located in rocks of the Miocene and Pliocene. Wintershall Dea has extensive experience from its international operations in producing oil and gas from sandstone reservoirs and in using innovative measures to overcome production declines in mature fields.
To optimise the field performance and boost production of the field, which is in production since 1957, Wintershall Dea makes use of its know-how and technology from global projects. Currently, the operator is working on a water flooding project – and makes good progress. Upside potential for Ogarrio is seen based on first promising results from a water injection test.
And Wintershall Dea assumes social responsibility in Mexico: The company established a social programme and invests, among others, in health and education of the surrounding communities in Ogarrio.
The Ogarrio field covers a surface area of 156 square kilometres – the size of almost 22,000 football pitches.
Zama field – discovery and development project on world class level
Zama is one of the world’s biggest shallow-water discoveries in the past 20 years, expected to produce up to 180,000 boe per day at peak and contribute significantly to Mexico’s energy supply over the next 25 years. Plans to develop the field efficiently and quickly are in motion, and Wintershall Dea is at the heart of these plans.
An Integrated Project Team has been established between Wintershall Dea, Pemex (operator), Talos Energy and Harbour Energy. The aim is to pool the talents and competencies of all the companies involved, and delegate roles strategically in order to implement the agreed Unit Development Plan (UDP), officially approved by the authorities. The UDP sets out to minimise greenhouse gas intensity by optimising transportation and storage and making use of the best available technology.
Block 30 – important discovery
In April 2023, Wintershall Dea’s first own-operated offshore exploration well, named Kan, resulted in a major oil discovery in Block 30, located in the shallow waters of the Cuenca Salina in the Sureste Basin. Preliminary estimates indicate the discovery may contain 200 to 300 million barrels oil equivalent in place. The discovery was made together with partners Harbour Energy and Sapura OMV, who hold 30% interest each in Block 30. Wintershall Dea, as operator, holds 40%.
This discovery complements Wintershall Dea's outstanding Mexican licence portfolio.
Block 29 – development of significant Polok discovery
In May 2020, Wintershall Dea and its partners in Block 29 made two significant oil discoveries, Polok and Chinwol. The Polok discovery opened a new play within Mexico’s Salina Basin and was appraised in 2021. The next steps for the consortium of Wintershall Dea, operator Repsol, Petronas and PTTEP are the selection of the most adequate development option for Polok, including the conceptual and pre-FEED studies as well as the evaluation of the subsea and FPSO parts of the project.
We are committed to the further development of Mexico’s energy sector. In line with Wintershall Dea’s ambitious climate targets we seek for efficient knowledge transfer, collecting systematically experience and expertise from our international projects to the benefit of new and existing projects in Mexico.
For your information
Currently, the pages for Mexico and Argentina are the only ones available in Spanish. All other pages are available in German and English.
