Zama Oil Field Partners Select French Firm for FEED

The partners in Mexico’s Zama oil field have awarded a front-end engineering and design contract (FEED) to French engineering company DORIS.

The FEED work will be based on the scope of the Unit Development Plan approved by the Mexican Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) last year. The work covers the planning of two offshore platforms, 42 miles (68 kilometers) of pipelines and cables as well as a new onshore facility fully dedicated to the Zama project, located at the Dos Bocas Maritime Terminal in Paraiso, Tabasco, according to a news release from Wintershall Dea.

The Zama Unit partnership also plans to minimize greenhouse gas intensity by using the best available technology, produced gas for onshore power generation, as well as the best use of existing storage and transport infrastructure, according to the release.    

DORIS will collaborate with two Mexican engineering companies, NOMARNA and SUMMUM, to carry out the FEED work. The financial details of the contract were not disclosed.

Once the studies have been finalized, the Zama Unit partnership will proceed with the tendering process of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, followed by the final investment decision.

“Zama is currently one of the most important energy projects in Mexico and we are very pleased to have reached the next milestone,” Martin Jungbluth, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Mexico, said. “Our goal is to develop this large field safely, in the most efficient timeline and in the best possible technical way. With DORIS we have a very experienced partner for the FEED phase at our side”.

“The award of the FEED is a great result thanks to the good cooperation in our Integrated Project Team (IPT), in which colleagues from all four Zama partner companies work together on this extensive and important key project every day. I am pleased that we are making good progress, together, as one team”, Sylvain Petiteau, Vice President of the Zama Project, said.

Zama is one of the world's largest shallow water discoveries in the last 20 years and was the first discovery made by an international consortium in Mexico in 2017. With estimated gross resources of 600 million to 800 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), Zama is expected to make a significant contribution to Mexico's energy supply over the next 25 years, creating activity that will support the growth of the country's energy sector and generate a large number of jobs in the coming years. The field is expected to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, which corresponds to around 10 percent of Mexico's current total oil production, according to the release.

Wintershall Dea is the second largest shareholder in the Zama field after operator Pemex and holds an initial participation of 19.83 percent, while Pemex holds 50.43 percent, Talos Energy 17.35 percent, and Harbour Energy 12.39 percent.

Wintershall Dea started exploring for and producing hydrocarbons in Mexico in 2018. Since then, the company said it has managed to establish itself as one of the leading international upstream companies in Mexico, with interests in licenses in all phases of the E&P value chain.

With a 50 percent share, Wintershall Dea has been operator of the producing onshore Ogarrio oil field since 2018. The Mexican state company Pemex is a partner and holds the remaining shares.

Further, Wintershall Dea is a partner in the producing Hokchi field. The latest success was a major oil discovery in Wintershall Dea’s operated Block 30, estimated to contain 200 million to 300 million boe in place. The company also has material interests in further offshore exploration blocks located in the Gulf of Mexico, and serves as the operator for three of them.

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