A unit of Mexico’s Grupo Carso, controlled by the family of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, said Thursday it had bought a minority stake in Talos Energy México for 124.75 million dollars to obtain a part of the Zama oil project.
The acquisition needs the approval of Mexican regulators, Carso said in his statement.
The Mexican subsidiary of Houston-based Talos Energy, which discovered Zama in 2017, controls 17.4% of the potentially lucrative deposit in Mexican territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The project is now operated by state oil company Pemex, after getting the go-ahead to carry out operations from Mexico’s energy ministry, following a protracted dispute over which company would lead the project.
Pemex holds the rights to a neighboring block believed to share the Zama oil riches, one of Mexico’s biggest oil finds in years.
Carso said it will acquire 49.9% of the Talos unit and will make two payments to purchase the minority interest, the first of $74.85 million when the deal closes, and then a second payment of $49.9 million once commercial production of Zama begins.
The purchase is expected to close during the third quarter of this year, according to a separate statement from Talos on Thursday.
“Grupo Carso will actively participate with Talos to obtain the most efficient execution of the project together with Pemex and the other members of the consortium,” Carso said in his statement.
The Talos-led consortium in Zama also includes Europe’s Wintershall DEA, which has a 19.8% stake, and Harbor Energy, which has 12.4%. Pemex owns 50.4%.
Carso said he is making the purchase through his Zamajal unit.
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Reuters UK-based news agency.