Lukoil On The Money In Mexico With New Oil Discovery

Russian oil and gas firm Lukoil has made an oil discovery within the Yoti West structure at Block 12 offshore Mexico.

The field was discovered after drilling the first exploration well. According to preliminary estimates, the initial oil in place reaches 250 million barrels.

The Yoti West-1 EXP well was drilled 37 miles offshore from the Valaris 8505 semi-submersible platform. The well penetrated a sand reservoir in Upper Miocene sediments with high permeability and effective oil-saturated thickness of about 80 feet. An assessment plan for the Yoti West field is planned to be developed based ​on drilling results.

In 2017, Lukoil obtained the right for exploration and production of hydrocarbons at Block 12 in the Gulf of Mexico. The Block has an area of around 130,000 acres. The stakeholders are Lukoil with 60 percent as the project operator and Eni as a partner which holds the remaining 40 percent.

Two successful exploration wells were previously drilled at Block 10 offshore Mexico where Lukoil owns 20 percent and Eni is the operator. The resource base of the Block is currently being assessed based on drilling results.

In July, Lukoil bought a 50 percent operator interest in the Area 4 project in Mexico through the acquisition of the operator’s holding company for a total value of $435 million, plus expenditures incurred in 2021 as of the transaction completion date.

The project includes two blocks offshore Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico. Two oil fields located within the blocks, named Ichalkil and Pokoch, hold 564 million barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable hydrocarbon reserves, more than 80 percent of which is crude oil.

To contact the author, email bojan.lepic@rigzone.com