Italy's Eni makes 200 million barrel oil find in Mexican Sureste basin

Italy's Eni on March 17 announced its latest oil discovery off the Mexican Gulf Coast, estimated at 200 milion barrels "in place," raising hopes for a "synergic" development with previous finds.

The Yatzil exploration well found "in excess of 40 meters of net pay sands with good quality oil in the Upper Miocene sequences, with excellent petrophysical properties confirmed by an extensive subsurface data collection," Eni said in a statement. "According to preliminary estimates the new find may contain around 200 million barrels of oil... in place."

"The successful result comes after the Saasken and Sayulita discoveries in Block 10 and confirms the value of Eni's Mexican asset portfolio, contributing to the potential synergic cluster development of several prospects located nearby," Eni added.

The find is located 65 km off the coast and 25-30 km away from other discoveries, in water depths of 284 meters.

Eni is currently producing more than 30,000 b/d of oil equivalent in Mexico's separate Area 1 development, which is due for completion in 2025, it added.

The company announced the Sayulita discovery in the Cuenca Salina Sureste Basin in August 2021, estimating it at the time at 150 million-200 million boe, following on from Saasken in 2020.

Its partners in the latest well as Edinburgh-based Capricorn Energy and Mexican company Citla Energy.