Independent E&P company Talos Energy has started drilling the Zama-1 exploration well in Block 7 in the shallow water Sureste Basin, offshore Mexico.
Talos’ partner in the block, Premier Oil, said on Monday that the well was spudded on May 21, 2017.
According to the company, this is the first exploration well to be drilled on acreage awarded in Mexico’s first international licensing round in 2015.
The well’s principal target is the low-risk Zama prospect with supportive direct hydrocarbon indicators in the Tertiary clastic reservoirs.
The Zama structure is estimated to have a P90-P10 gross unrisked resource range of 100-500 mmbbls. The drilling of the Zama prospect and the secondary target, Zama Deep, will take up to 90 days at a total cost of $16 million to Premier.
The partners in Mexico’s Block 7 are Talos Energy as the operator with 35 percent, Sierra Oil and Gas with 40 percent, and Premier with the remaining 25 percent interest.
To remind, Premier entered Mexico through a joint venture with Talos and Sierra via Blocks 2 and 7, awarded to the JV in July 2015 . The technical evaluation of the Block 7 acreage was completed in 2016.
The award of the blocks, as part of Mexico’s first offshore bidding round , was the first time in 75 years that Mexico’s upstream sector has been open to private investment.