"[The discovery] is 7-8km [4-5 miles] from the shore and 20-30km [12-18 miles] from [Mexico’s state-owned oil giant] Pemex [infrastructure] facilities so if we need to accelerate [development], I think it can be done very quickly," Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi told the Financial Times newspaper in a telephone interview.
The reserves were discovered in the Bay of Campeche. According to Descalzi, Eni plans to start production in 2-3 years. The company also wants to take part in the next round of Mexico’s auction for offshore areas set for June.
Last June, Russia’s Lukoil oil company announced that it had been in talks with Eni on a joint offshore deep-water project in Mexico.
Earlier this month, Mexico’s Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said that the country’s economy would profit from investments worth $34 billion as a result of eight new oil tender contracts. The tenders are part of an energy industry reform launched by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2013.
