Mexico Wintershall Dea – a leading E&P company in Mexico
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 turned 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 and 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 nine 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 field Hokchi and the world class Zama field.
Up to
180,000
barrels of oil per day expected to 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 – producing field in the Sureste basin
In March 2023, Wintershall Dea completed the acquisition of a material stake in the Hokchi field, offshore Mexico, with a production of about 24,500 boe per day gross. Wintershall Dea holds a 37% non-operated interest, making the company the second largest interest holder after operator Hokchi Energy.
The shallow-water field 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 interest 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.
Based on the results of water injection tests conducted in the central southern area of the field, the Ogarrio waterflood project has been initiated and matured. The project is expected to improve the overall recovery of the Ogarrio field and primarily aims to utilise existing wells to reinject produced water from the field.
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.
The Unit Development Plan (UDP) was submitted to the National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) in March 2023 and received approval in June 2023. In addition, the unit partners have decided to create an Integrated Project Team consisting of experts from all companies to develop the project. Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) studies will take place in 2024 before a final investment decision can be made.
Block 30 – discovery in our first own-operated offshore project
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%.
At the end of 2023, the appraisal plan for Block 30 was submitted to the to the National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) and received approval in February 2024. The Block 30
partnership is targeting to drill a Kan appraisal well in 2024.
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.
Subsurface teams analysed all relevant data to optimise well trajectories and locations for maximum production output. All partners have aligned on the drilling and completion strategy within the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) development concept.
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.
