Mexican national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is claiming a majority interest in the Zama oil deposit discovered by a private sector consortium at offshore Block 7 in 2017.

Zama

The assertion by Pemex, made in its 20-F annual report filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, appears to contradict a previous assessment commissioned by the block’s operator, Talos Energy Inc. 

The previous estimate by Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. said that about 60% of the Zama resource was located within Block 7, a shallow water tract awarded to Talos and its partners in the Round 1.2 bidding process in 2015.

Now, citing a “final expert report” by an unnamed party, Pemex argued that, “we own 50.43% of the Zama reservoir whereas the Block 7 Consortium...