Mexico City — Carlos Slim Helú, the richest man in Mexico, has increased his portfolio of oil businesses during the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO.
The most recent movement was the purchase agreement by the company Carso Energy of 49.9% of the subsidiary in Mexico of the oil company Talos Energy, a shareholder in the Zama marine megafield —previously disputed with the state giant Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). — May 25.
Once the Mexican authorities approve the purchase, the Grupo Carso subsidiary will pay US$124.7 million in two installments to the company led by Timothy S. Duncan, with the possibility of increasing the amount up to US$262 million if they are reached. certain goals.
Carso’s participation in the most controversial asset in the sector will be added to the wide portfolio of oil businesses of the civil engineer with a fortune of US$90.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
What oil businesses does Slim have?
Slim began his first oil business outside of Mexico in March 2011 with the purchase of 70% of the shares of Tabasco Oil Company in Colombia where Grupo Carso operates two blocks, 10 days later, he established Carso Energy, whose main activity is to hold a group of companies that operate within the energy sector.
The subsidiary carries out activities of exploration, location, production, transportation, purchase and sale of oil, gas and minerals, as well as geothermal energy and operation of hydroelectric plants.
In 2017, Carso Energy, through the company Carso Oil and Gas, won two oil contracts in an oil auction for the exploration and exploitation of gas and oil as part of the energy reform of former President Enrique Peña Nieto.
With the arrival of AMLO to the presidency, Slim Helú was one of the main players in a tense negotiation on gas pipelines and gas transportation tariffs between the state company CFE and Carso Energy, Sempra Energy (IEnova) and TC Energy, which was resolved with the extension of contracts and level rates in August 2019.
Two months later, in October, the subsidiary company Operadora Carso Infraestructura y Construcción (Cicsa) obtained a contract from Pemex to build two offshore platforms for MXN$1,442 million and US$69.8 million.
Two years later, subsidiary GSM-Bronco was awarded a US$196 million contract to drill and complete wells in Pemex onshore fields.
Now Carlos Slim’s Zamajal subsidiary is about to partner with Talos on the largest field discovered in the past decade with an estimated $31 billion in oil revenue for Mexico, but first it will have to receive approval from antitrust regulator, the Federal Commission on Economic Competition (Cofece).
The Talos CEO said in a statement that Grupo Carso’s investment is a testament to Zama’s economic potential, and the partnership will also benefit from the company’s presence in Mexico and its global business experience.
“Carso is the right partner at the right time,” Duncan commented.
Pemex, with a 50.4% stake in the Zama field, will be the operator of the oil project after a complex unification process with its private partners headed by Talos, who claimed the majority shareholding (60%) and the operation of the Deposit.
The oil regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), received this year the development plan for the marine field in superficial waters of the Gulf of Mexico where a peak production of 151,000 barrels of crude oil is expected in 2032.
