Mexico's Pemex receives approval to increase investment in deepwater Lakach field by $400 million

The hydrocarbon regulator in Mexico approved Thursday the request of state energy company Pemex for an expansion of a natural-gas project in Gulf of Mexico. This requires additional investments of just under $400 million.

Lakach has been touted as a possible gateway to a deepwater Mexican gas frontier.

Pemex requested that the production strategy for the field be updated to include the termination and recovery of wells, production management, and commercialization of hydrocarbons.

CNH approved $2.218 billion for 2024-2041, of which $1.667 billion is for investments and $551 for operational costs.

A previous plan approved last year, for 2024-2035, included an estimated $1.815billion. The production deadline for the plan was also pushed from 2025 to 2020.

Grupo Carso (owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim) signed a contract for exploration and extraction services with Pemex. It announced that it would invest $1.2billion.

Pemex said it spent $1.400 billion in Lakach - a project which was previously shelved two times. Pemex and New Fortress Energy split at the end 2023 because they couldn't agree on terms.

The project also envisages building gas pipelines to the ground, instead of using boats for the collection and transportation of the gas, as was originally planned. (Reporting Ana Isabel Martinez and Stefanie Eschenbacher)

(source: Reuters)