Mexican agency approves plans for Pemex to develop two Gulf of Mexico fields

Houston — Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission has approved plans by state company Pemex for upstream unit Pemex Exploration and Production to develop and produce two Gulf of Mexico oil fields that will contain a range of crude grades from heavy to light, the agency said Tuesday.

Pemex plans to spend more than $500 million combined to extract oil and gas from the Teekit and Cibix fields, both off the southeast Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco in the Mexican Gulf, CNH, Mexico's oil and gas regulatory agency, said in a statement.

Teekit, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) northeast of the Dos Bocas Maritime Terminal, is targeted to produce a total 20.3 million barrels of oil that averages around 26 degrees API and 10 Bcf of natural gas, CNH said.

Pemex will spend $370 million, including abandonment activities, to produce from three of Teekit's six reservoirs by drilling and completing four development wells, CNH said.

In addition, Cibix -- situated nearly 19 miles (30 km) from the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco -- is projected to extract 13.2 million barrels of oil and nearly 33 Bcf of gas from Upper Miocene-aged reservoirs.

Pemex will spend nearly $184 million on its Cibix work program that will include drilling and completing six development wells, along with abandonment activities.

Cibix oil has an average density of 19.3 to 40.6 degrees API, CNH said.

-- Starr Spencer, starr.spencer@spglobal.com

-- Edited by Bill Montgomery, newsdesk@spglobal.com