The board of Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex has approved its second-ever deep water joint venture covering the Nobilis-Maximino block in the country’s territorial Gulf waters.
Pemex, which is looking for a partner to develop the block, estimates it to hold reserves of some 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) based on data gathered from five wells drilled in the past, the company said in a statement.
The potentially-lucrative project lies just south of Mexico’s maritime border with the United States in the Perdido Fold Belt, where dozens of successful projects have been developed on the U.S. side of the same basin in recent decades.
Pemex said production could reach 300,000 barrels per day in its Perdido Fold Belt developments by 2025.
Details of the Nobilis-Maximino plan were revealed last week, with an auction being eyed for December.
The area covers some 588 square miles (1,524 sq km) and at a water depth of around 9,840 feet (3,000 meters).
Late last year, Mexico inked its first-ever deep water joint venture for Pemex’s Trion block after Australian mining and oil giant BHP Billiton won the rights.
Nobilis-Maximino is located due east of Trion, which could eventually provide “operational synergies”, Pemex said.