43,000+ global companies doing business in the region 102,000+ key contacts related to companies and projects news and interviews about your industry in English Escorted by locals on bicycles and in vehicles that awaited his arrival outside his hometown in Mexico Arturo Zacarias Meza returned home days after Houthi rebels in Yemen released him and his fellow crew members following more than a year in captivity a small town in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz with tile-roofed buildings facing a lush central square a Norteno band on Friday belted out Zacarias’ favorite song and neighbors prepared the carnitas — Mexican pulled confit pork — that the 32-year-old merchant marine had most missed “A mother’s prayer will never fail,” Zacarias said upon his return home where residents had been lighting candles for his safe release since November 2023 Zacarias and much of the rest of the crew of the Galaxy Leader were resting in their quarters when Houthi rebels descended from a helicopter onto the ship transiting the Red Sea “Immediately the captain gave the order that we should surrender and not do anything,” Zacarias said because if we had done something more they would have given the order to shoot.” The rebels told them in broken English that they were not pirates and were not looking for money The Houthis said they hijacked the Galaxy Leader over its connection to Israel and that they wanted to stop the war in Gaza The attack launched the rebels’ campaign targeting ships in international waters in the Red Sea the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects them The Bahamas-flagged vessel is affiliated with an Israeli billionaire who is known as one of the richest men in Israel the 25-member crew hailed from the Philippines They were kept aboard the ship until the last three months when they were moved to a safe house Zacarias said he fell into a habit of sleeping 12 hours a day the crew won the trust of their captors and were permitted 30 minutes once a week to call their families Their release this week was brokered by Oman a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that’s long been an interlocutor with the Houthis Zacarias said that Houthi leaders had praised the crew as heroes for Palestinians and an important piece of the still fresh ceasefire with Israel Wearing a shirt carrying the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe Zacarias expressed gratitude for his safe release saying that God would soon grant them peace Natural gas price transparency & key data for the N Learn More: EOD natural gas forward price curves at 70+ key North American trading locations Forward curve prices of natural gas in North America Mexico natural gas pricing data & fundamentals Insight into tomorrow's natural gas prices and historical data Pricing and market developments for shale and unconventional plays and market developments for shale and unconventional plays which extends across east-central Mexico into the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico may be one of 24 global onshore "super basins," much like the Permian Basin with its myriad reservoirs and multiple source rocks In an analysis using the IHS Markit Basin Insights Service researchers said the super basins have multiple reservoirs and source rocks diverse play types across several geologic horizons infrastructure with access to markets and established service sector/supply chains The report was published last week in advance of CERAWeek by IHS Markit we looked for at least 5 billion boe in conventional remaining reserves in basins that had already produced at least 5 billion boe," said IHS Markit's Robert Fryklund chief upstream strategist and a lead author of the report "We did a global assessment of basins where our study criteria existed -- looking for basins with multiple plays and at least two mature source rocks -- basically basins that keep on giving and giving Existing production indicates that there is extensive existing infrastructure." The Tampico-Misantla Basin has been producing oil since the early 1920s and it has all of the super basin characteristics it may well mirror America's model super basin -- the ever-resilient Permian Basin." the authors looked at the current view of the estimated ultimately recoverable (EUR) resources then compared the current figure with a prior estimate in 2000 about 10 years before the unconventional drilling boom in West Texas and southern New Mexico began the Permian's EUR was 35 billion bbl of oil almost three times the previous estimate -- and some put the number higher," the authors said What sets the Permian apart is the ability to target smaller oil and gas horizons and attack as many as 45 stacked pay zones which have driven significant EUR increases The three-fold uplift for the Permian prompted IHS Markit upstream specialists to look at other basins outside the United States to assess where governments could take advantage of similar basins to get more out of their existing production areas Researchers identified 23 conventional reservoir horizons in the Tampico-Misantla, with three mature source rock formations -- Agua Nueva, Huayacocotla and Pimienta. The Upper Jurassic Pimienta formation is a source rock that correlates with the Cotton Valley-Bossier-Haynesville in East Texas, Raymond James & Associates Inc. noted last September At least two of the Tampico-Misantla source rocks are "potential shale reservoirs," Fryklund said An evaluation of the Agua Nueva and Pimienta shales for shale oil resource potential resulted in an estimate of 3.8 billion boe of technically recoverable resource The Pimienta Shale has not been tested in the Tampico-Misantla but it has been tested in eight other wells in the Burgos and Sabinas basins Relatively few discoveries surpass 100 million boe but there could be as much as 2.5 billion boe in the basin's multiple unconventional fields Most are likely to be relatively tight reservoirs that maybe benefit from horizontal drilling "Between the remaining reserves in existing fields and opportunities in shale and other tight reservoirs the basin offers something for everyone -- a diversity of upstream opportunities for large and small companies national oil companies and investors," Fryklund said turning the Mexican formations' oil and gas into proven reserves may be a big challenge "The local service sector infrastructure would need substantial investment," Fryklund said "We at IHS Markit believe that the investment capital is available if there is clarity around the investment opportunity." With a relatively high-cost structure for horizontal drilling activity the current fiscal terms "are inadequate to offset the higher costs associated with the preliminary phases of development of tight reservoirs," according to IHS Markit The fiscal terms govern entitlements in the basin for Pemex which currently is the only producer working there Pemex faces financial and technical challenges to develop the basin's full potential "Increasing resources and capabilities beyond Pemex is critical for developing the basin," Leon said "The challenge is to increase the number of qualified operators investing in the basin and improve the fiscal terms These changes could be achieved through at least two scenarios." Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission could redraw or repackage acreage and blocks "to create the scale needed" for synergies that would lead to success for this type of basin still the main financial vehicle for the federal budget senior vice president for global energy one of the super basin study authors said the country is unlikely to see 2.5 million b/d under current fiscal conditions "Another key factor favoring Tampico-Misantla is timing which could be very constructive for Mexico," Pascual said The basin "could help offset a declining Mexican production supply profile in the near- to medium-term much like the Permian Basin has done for the U.S The potential to get near-term results could bring big benefits to government revenue the local services sector and employment." The cycle time to generate related oil and gas volumes in Mexico's deepwater Gulf of Mexico may not be achieved until the mid-2020s and beyond "Tampico-Misantla offers a near-term opportunity that could positively impact the Mexican economy in the current oil-price environment," Pascual said "There are other significant risks to attracting investors in Tampico-Misantla including security and aging infrastructure if the government takes positive steps to address the needed terms for unconventional exploration and production "Exploration and appraisal of unconventional and tight conventional resources is a critical component to sustaining long-term production and the Tampico-Misantla Basin is a potential source of significant discovered resources that could make the difference for Mexico “While the government has several challenges to address it also has the power and authority to resolve those challenges and to chart the path for the next phase of development for this super basin." Carolyn Davis joined the editorial staff of NGI in Houston in May of 2000 she covered regulatory issues for environmental and occupational safety and health publications She also has worked as a reporter for several daily newspapers in Texas the Temple Daily Telegram and the Killeen Daily Herald She attended Texas A&M University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Houston continues to focus on decreasing dry gas completion activity which includes releasing a hydraulic fracturing fleet in the Haynesville Shale while maintaining its liquids-rich activity level in West Virginia and Ohio Canadian oil and natural gas employment remained lean in 2022 as the industry directed price gains into shareholder benefits oil producers ramped up output last week even as near- and long-term demand grew increasingly uncertain amid recession fears and a new push to shift American drivers to electric-powered cars and trucks oilfield services and equipment sector (OFS) increased by 2,907 jobs in March and reached its highest level in three years according to an analysis of federal data by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council associated natural gas output – a byproduct of oil production – is expected to grow through 2050 continuing and amplifying a long-term trend Texas natural gas production in January dropped to the lowest point since February 2021 as both well production and associated gas from oil wells in the Permian Basin counties shrank according to preliminary data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Believing that transparent markets empower businesses Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) provides natural gas price transparency and key news and data for the North American energy markets Mexico’s Tampico-Misantla Basin is potentially one of the richest unconventional oil and gas resources in the world with reserves of at least 90 Bbo and 40 Tcfg Development of these resources could significantly increase Mexico’s daily production of oil and gas bringing in enough income to rejuvenate the national oil company little is being done to bring these resources into production Tampico-Misantla is one of only two that produce oil The Tampico-Misantla Basin is in east-central Mexico bounded by the Tamaulipas Arch in the north the Neovolcanic Axis and Teziutlán uplift in the south and the Sierra Madre Oriental Fold Belt to the west IHS Markit analysts developed the super basin concept and proposed the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico as the epitome of a super basin They also identified the Tampico-Misantla Basin as a super basin that has very similar characteristics to the Permian Basin recognising it as an excellent candidate for rejuvenation (Fryklund and Stark The Permian Basin started production in the 1920s from reef- and shelf-limestone reservoirs that rim the Delaware and Midland Sub-basins It reached 2 MMbopd production in the mid-1970s declining steadily thereafter until by 2010 output had declined to less than 1 MMbopd when the advent of horizontal drilling with multiple hydraulic fractures allowed oil and gas to flow economically from silts and shales previously overlooked as producible reservoirs This resulted in exponential production growth that in only 10 years reached a staggering 4.8 MMbopd and 18 Bcfpd In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic hampered growth The basin’s resource estimate of 30 Bboe in the early 2000s was reassessed in 2018 to be 150 Bboe recoverable Tampico-Misantla has four main conventional oil plays that were the focus of upstream activity in Mexico until the 1980s The first reservoirs were discovered in the early 1900s in fractured carbonates of the prolific Ébano-Pánuco-Cacalilao Province west of Tampico followed a few years later by the Golden Lane to the south In the 1930–40s the Poza Rica trend and the southern extension of the Golden Lane were discovered followed by the offshore Golden Lane and Jurassic reservoirs in the 1950–60s In the 1960–70s low permeability sands in Chicontepec were tested at the same time as similar rocks of the Spraberry Formation in the Midland Basin were beginning to be developed As production started from oil shales in the USA in 2010 Mexico began successfully evaluating the rich organic shales and marls of the Tithonian and Turonian Figure 2: Rejuvenation of the oil production of the Permian Basin following the discovery of oil in the Mesozoic of the Sureste Basin oil production grew from 0.5 to 2.7 MMbopd and reserves increased from 6.3 to 72.5 Bboe the authorities decided that there were sufficient oil and gas reserves to sustain output for at least 25 years and reduced the NOC exploration budget from approximately US$2 billion in 1981 to $400 million by 2001 concentrating most of the resources in the Sureste Basin where the fields were entering a mature stage wells were less productive and producing oil from tight rocks was much more expensive was all but abandoned and has had little further exploration Today the Sureste Basin has few undeveloped reserves and although there is good potential for yet-to-be-found reservoirs these are elusive with new discoveries requiring expensive facilities the total resources in the Tampico-Misantla Basin are huge (Table 1) with unconventional in-place resources estimated to be over 100 Bboe and in similar reservoirs to those that allowed the Permian to multiply its oil output sixfold in less than ten years Not only do the two basins have similar reservoirs but they also have similar resource volumes These unconventional resources are in relatively shallow reservoirs and can be developed as economically as conventionals – faster Table 1: Oil and gas resources of the Tampico-Misantla Basin The richest and easiest resource to develop is the tight oil in the foredeep fill formed by the Sierra Madre uplift that was incised in the Late Palaeocene – Early Eocene by a long (120 km by 25 km) paleo-canyon named Chicontepec the Bejuco-La Laja paleo-canyon formed in the north side of the Tuxpan Platform (Figure 1) Earliest drilling in Chicontepec took place in 1926 but the wells had low productivity and there was little interest in their development although a few isolated wells went into production in the 1940 and 1950s interest was renewed by improved productivity and some scattered reservoirs were developed Initial flow rates were highly variable and declined rapidly so the wells needed to be fracture-stimulated to be able to flow or pump at commercial rates and were directionally drilled from central locations to minimise environmental impact and produced into centralised facilities Oil gravities in the paleo-canyon vary from very light in the north (> 40° API) to very low in the south (10° API) Between 40 and 90 wells a year were drilled in Chicontepec between 1973 and 1982 In 1978 DeGolyer and Macnaughton certified the reserves reporting that the paleo-canyon had 106 Bbo in place All 29 fields were determined to belong to a single contiguous giant oil field covering over 3,000 km2 and at the time it was considered that over 16,000 wells would be needed to develop the field Oil production in Mexico during this period was less than 0.5 MMbopd but just before the project was started the highly productive giant oil fields of the Sureste Basin were discovered and all the available resources were dedicated to developing these small efforts were made to develop Chicontepec and some of the reservoirs with better permeabilities came on stream despite their low productivity Figure 3: Legacy and unconventional plays of the Tampico-Misantla Basin In the early 2000s a new attempt was made to fully develop these reservoirs Their volumes were recertified by both DeGolyer and Macnaughton and Netherland and Sewel who confirmed the order of magnitude of the volumes certified 30 years earlier Better drilling and completion techniques were applied better subsurface models and more efficient facilities This new effort was predicated on a certified resource base of 137.3 Bbo in place and 63 Tcfg and 17.1 Bboe of 3P reserves Output increased from a few thousand bopd to over 30,000 bopd over a short period and supported a 10-year plan that recommended an extensive drilling campaign to raise production to over 600,000 bopd The Chicontepec Integral Project became very important as the offshore Cantarell field (2.2 MMbopd) had started declining (and with it Mexico’s oil production) and the only important undeveloped reserves that could replace the lost production were offshore Campeche in Ku-Maloob-Zaap with 10–12° API oil – and Chicontepec The over $60.00/bo break-even cost and enormous CAPEX requirements remained a challenge but at the time the oil price was soaring and Chicontepec output increased to more than 70,000 bopd the government decided to suspend production When the price started to recover and the technologies to extract oil from low permeability rocks at economic rates became a reality a new attempt to develop Chicontepec was made this time through what were termed Integral E&P Contracts (IEPCs) The objective of these was to incorporate new technologies but since the Mexican Constitution at the time precluded third parties from participating directly in exploration and production the contracts were awarded with the developments being designated as services These contracts did not result in a significant increase in output as the companies’ incentives were in the services provided and not in increasing production or the reserves and by 2012 the government was considering implementing an energy reform that would allow private participation in upstream projects The authorities decided to outsource most of the Chicontepec development as new E&P profit/production-sharing contracts by ‘migrating’ the previous service IEPC’s to this new contractual form once the reforms were implemented Figure 4: Historic oil production of the oil basins of Mexico A new reserves certification conducted at the time downgraded the Chicontepec volumes so the official numbers by 2017 were 59 Bo and 31.5 Tcfg (in place) with 3P reserves of 6.3 Bboe (National Hydrocarbon Commission (CNH) The CNH (2020) official numbers are 65.35 Bboe but with only 4.6 Bboe of 3P reserves Downgrading of these unconventional 3P resources at a time when most reserves in other basins are being revised upward is surprising but it is possible that the new technologies and concepts that can render very tight or marginal resources recoverable were not taken into consideration Since 2018 there has been a moratorium on outsourcing new projects and the use of hydraulic fracking and the IEPC contracts have not migrated so the Chicontepec development has not been outsourced and with PEMEX operating only the small fields the price of oil could sustain unconventional projects because operators have managed to reduce costs below break-even and they continue developing the Permian The original oil and gas volumes reported for all 29 fields Less than 0.5% of the resources have been extracted: if only a small fraction of these oil and gas reserves were produced it would have a huge impact on the upstream industry and economics of Mexico (Table 2) Table 2: Original volumes and 3P reserves for the Chicontepec fields (before and after downgrade) and 2020 cumulative production the shales in several Mexican basins have been extensively studied and their oil and gas potential tested There are several shale and marl units in the basin which are rich in mature organic matter and three of them – the Turonian Agua Nueva the Tithonian Pimienta and Oxfordian Santiago Formations – have oil and gas that can be produced the Kimmeridgian Tamán Formation has source rock characteristics although its potential to produce has yet to be fully evaluated These shales are widely distributed in northern and eastern Mexico (Figure 5) present in most of the basin and in the southern Burgos Basin Several authors have concluded that it has excellent characteristics for oil and gas generation based on its good total organic carbon (TOC) values and the fact that these formations are rich in carbonate content indicates very good potential as an unconventional resource Figure 5: Distribution of oil and gas in shales in Mexico Jarvie and Maende (2016) present a compelling case for the Upper Jurassic in the Tampico-Misantla Basin and conclude that there is very high potential for unconventional shale oil production due to the large volumes of retained petroleum They estimate about one billion barrels per 12,000 acres (48.6 km2) in the Upper Jurassic and conclude that the Tampico-Misantla Basin is potentially one of the best in the world They also consider that the total petroleum generation potential for the Tithonian in the basin is 840 bo per acre-foot (for shale at 1.00% vitrinite reflectance) In the Tampico-Misantla Basin the Tithonian shale has a widespread distribution being absent only over the Tuxpan Platform the Tamaulipas Arch and the Teziutlán High Several studies have established the Tithonian shale to be in the oil window and to have 1–8% TOC kerogen type II/III and low structural complexity type II kerogen and are in the oil and gas windows Figure 6: Stratigraphic column showing distribution of the major reservoirs and oil and gas in shales in Mexico Recent studies of the Pimienta Formation in the Tampico-Misantla Basin address its petrology To date these resources remain untapped despite the very significant recoverable reserves identified (Table 3) Development of the unconventional resources of the Tampico-Misantla Basin together with the exploration of the basin with new concepts and technologies and the optimisation of its legacy reservoirs could put Mexico back on the list of the top oil-producing nations The Tampico-Misantla Basin has the oil and gas resources and conditions required to be a super basin access to markets and field services providers It could be rejuvenated just as the Permian Basin was thanks to its huge tight oil shale potential and its lack of exploration over recent decades Henk KombrinkHenk.Kombrink@geoexpro.com+44 77 8899 2374 Sales DirectorIngvild Ryggen CarstensSales Enquiries+47 974 69 090 is well known geologically but its remaining oil and natural gas potential has yet to be properly evaluated a former executive vice-president of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) told an American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) meeting Alfredo Guzman estimates Tampico-Misantla contains more than 150 billion bbl of original oil in place in conventional oil carbonate reservoirs The basin in coastal east-central Mexico has more than 70 fields already on stream although it is a low priority for Pemex During a Global Super Basins 2019 conference in Sugar Land Guzman compared Tampico-Misantla shale’s characteristics with the Permian basin in West Texas and New Mexico The Permian’s Midland and Delaware subbasins started producing oil during the 1900s from conventional reservoirs featuring carbonate rocks most Permian oil production comes from horizontal multifractured wells tapping into source rocks Guzman said the Midland and Chicontepec subbasins are intracratonic depressions bordered by carbonate shelfs Turbidite currents carried fine- to medium-grained sediments into the area Both Midland and Chicontepec have similar permeabilities rich organic sediments that provide source rocks and very tight reservoirs Guzman calls Tampico-Misantla “a super-charged basin” containing late Jurassic source rocks The 25,000-sq-km area can produce from at least 10 geologic levels who hass studied the basin since the late 1980s Mexico appointed Guzman to its National Hydrocarbons Commission created in 2008 Mexico depended primarily upon Tampico-Misantla’s production in the early 1900s until Pemex discovered the Mesozoic Chiapas-Tabasco and Campeche Sound provinces Guzman said Pemex stopped exploring Tampico-Misantla and elsewhere in Mexico to reallocate its investments and expertise during the 1980s to Chiapas-Tabasco and Campeche Sound “Limited resources needed to be deployed in more profitable reservoirs especially when all the production of the basin came to be only 3% of the national oil output,” Guzman said it meant abandonment of one of the richest provinces of the world.” Tampico-Misantla received little attention for decades Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration adopted energy reforms in 2013 enabling upstream investment in Mexico by non-Mexican companies for the first time in 75 years The National Hydrocarbon Commission estimates 107 billion boe has been found in Tampico-Misantla with another estimated 144.3 billion boe in resources yet to be found “Only 7.8 billion boe have been extracted and only [another] 7 billion boe are considered reserves which implies leaving in the ground almost 93 billion boe of the original discovery,” Guzman said Chicontepec holds most of the 7 billon boe of reserves Pemex and a few other Mexican operators are working in Tampico-Misantla of Canada is among the non-Mexican operators studying the basin and Baker Hughes have been contracted to work the Chicontepec tight oil reservoirs The figure shows the area where Tonalli Energia spudded the first conventional horizontal well in its onshore Tecolutla block in Tampico-Misantla basin during 2018 Well TEC-11 penetrated the Cretaceous El Abra reef at about 2,310 m with a lateral of 1,000 m a partner with Grupo Idesa in the Tonalli joint venture said TEC-11 was the first well in a multiwell plan to develop a northern extension which was identified with 3D seismic interpretation of Tecolutla oil field in Veracruz Renaissance vice-president of business development said Tampico-Misantla remains “a huge basin in terms of the oil it has produced to date and its potential… Tampico-Misantla contains thick Upper Jurassic shale that has yet to be developed Smith said this shale would have been developed already if it was a US or Canadian play Russia’s OAO Lukoil and Renaissance are partners in an integrated oil service (OFS) contract for the 60,000-acre Amatitlan block in the Chicontepec paleochannel formation within Tampico-Misantla basin integrated OFS contracts are eligible to be migrated to exploration and production-sharing licenses OFS contracts were common in Chicontepec during the early 2000s when former Mexico President Vicente Fox announced a $75 billion 20-year plan to develop the formation’s proved Fox forecast Chicontepec eventually could produce 1 million b/d but it has produced only about 32,000 b/d Renaissance and Lukoil are developing Amatitlan block as part of a group of integrated OFS contracts overseen by Halliburton Co. as well as Mexico’s Constructora y Perforadora Latina Renaissance acquired 50% of Perforadora’s half-stake in the neighboring block near Poza Rica in Veracruz The Pitepec integrated exploration and production contract is to explore and produce oil and gas The 61,300-acre Pitepec block is adjacent to the Amatitlan block Smith said Chicontepec is very heterogeneous requiring different exploration and development methods for each area He is interested in Upper Jurassic shale packages about 3,000 m deep where core samples have been taken The Upper Jurassic shales of the Tampico-Misantla basin are believed to hold potential but have yet to be commercially developed Smith believes Amatitlan block will provide production from Upper Jurassic shales He anticipates a multi-year horizontal drilling program Guzman believes technology for unconventional plays can be applied from the Midland and Delaware subbasins to Tampico-Misantla basin “Tampico-Misantla could produce 2-3 million boe in less than 10 years which would take Mexico back to its position as one of the world’s main producing countries as in the case of the US thanks to the Permian,” Guzman said He believes Tampico-Misantla can reach record production provided it receives investment and technologies such as has been done in the Permian which now produces oil from very low porosities and permeabilities “Downgraded volumes in Chicontepec will be reconsidered under the light of the application of new technologies and development plans and investment,” Guzman said “The original oil and gas allocated to the Chicontepec subbasin is less than half of what many experts always [believed it would be]” Guzman said Tampico-Misantla development is necessary because new offshore production will not come on stream until after 2022 Paula Dittrick has covered oil and gas from Houston for more than 20 years and environment beat for Oil & Gas Journal Dittrick is familiar with the industry’s financial aspects She also monitors issues associated with carbon sequestration and renewable energy she worked for Dow Jones and United Press International She began writing about oil and gas as UPI’s West Texas bureau chief during the 1980s She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska in 1974 Mexican sailor Arturo Zacarías Meza returned home to celebrations on Friday days after Houthi rebels in Yemen released him and his fellow crew members following more than a year in captivity Evelyn Tinoco kisses her boyfriend Arturo Zacarías upon his arrival to the General Heriberto Jara International airport in Veracruz days after he was released by Yemen Houthi rebels who had seized his cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in 2023 wearing a T-shirt with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe smiles as boards a minibus after arriving at the General Heriberto Jara International airport in Veracruz Arturo Zacarías is embraced by a neighbor welcoming him back home rides a bicycle to his home in Misantla in Veracruz state Arturo Zacarías is embraced by neighbors welcoming him back home in Misantla Arturo Zacarías smiles while sitting in a minibus after landing at the General Heriberto Jara International airport in Veracruz attends a Mass with family members outside his home in Misantla Arturo Zacarías receives a Virgin of Guadalupe statue during a welcoming ceremony in Misantla wears a T-shirt with his son’s image and a message that reads in Spanish; “Welcome Arturo days after his son was released by Yemen Houthi rebels who had seized his cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in 2023 Maria Meza hugs her son Arturo Zacarías upon his arrival to the General Heriberto Jara International airport in Veracruz dances outside his home during a welcoming ceremony in Misantla Arturo Zacarías dances outside his home in Misantla a small town in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz with tile-roofed buildings facing a lush central square a Norteño band belted out Zacarías’ favorite song on Friday and neighbors prepared the carnitas – Mexican pulled confit pork – that the 32-year-old merchant marine had most missed “A mother’s prayer will never fail,” Zacarías said upon his return home “Immediately the captain gave the order that we should surrender and not do anything,” Zacarías said The rebels told them in broken English that they weren’t pirates and weren’t looking for money They said they wanted to stop the war in Gaza Zacarías fell into a habit of sleeping 12 hours a day Zacarías said Friday that Houthi leaders had praised the crew as heroes for Palestinians and an important piece of the still fresh ceasefire with Israel Zacarías expressed gratitude for his safe release Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience Embracing heritage while fostering community through tasty dishes To chef/owner Dominica Rice-Cisneros, Bombera is more than just a restaurant It's a sister restaurant to [the now-closed and a showcase of the breadth of Mexican cuisine coupled with California's most vibrant flavors Bombera is a loving tribute to Rice-Cisneros' heritage and a testament to the power of community Growing up as a second-generation Mexican-American in Downtown Los Angeles Rice-Cisneros learned firsthand the value of having a vibrant and supportive community Her multicultural neighborhood shaped her palate and culinary identity. “I thought being from Los Angeles was a disadvantage because I did not grow up in Napa or France I grew up in Eagle Rock and in Chinatown; it wasn’t an orchard I thought I was behind in my culinary training,” says Rice-Cisneros her experiences inspired her to open Bombera and bring that same sense of multiculturalism “I wanted a connection to the community and its people," says Rice-Cisneros "That’s what gets me out of bed every morning It helps me focus and brings me energy every day.” Rice-Cisneros champions for women in the gastronomic landscape down to her location [Fun fact: Bombera literally translates into the female version of firefighter] It's fitting given the kitchen's propensity for cooking over flames something that pays homage to the restaurant's location the previous generation and grandmothers who were masters of fire and traditional cooking “Mexican cuisine is an amazing art form that is part of women's history,” Rice-Cisneros continues “We want people to be aware of our female crew of masa masters Embracing the Journey and paying it forward: So with several successes under her belt, oodles of accolades (including being named a 2023 MICHELIN Bib Gourmand) what advice would Rice-Cisneros provide to the next gen of aspiring chefs Make sure you’re helping people and support their dreams and vision your community will be there for you.” The proof is on the plate Hero image: Daniel Villarreal/Bombera Kevin Chau is a Contributor for The MICHELIN Guide What the MICHELIN Guide Inspectors Saw in 2025 Whether it’s your first time in a fine dining restaurant or your fiftieth these tips from our seasoned MICHELIN Guide Inspectors will help you get it right — your way When you want to dress up and enjoy a night out on the town Bib Gourmand Pierozek brings people together for delicious From listening bars to neighbourhood restaurants explore all the top recommendations from Chishuru’s Adejoké Bakare One of the most prominent chefs serving Indian cuisine talks India and his New York The Mexican capital takes center stage alongside the culinary world's top talents From Texas Barbecue to Mexico City's cutting-edge dining these new MICHELIN Guide hot spots promise unforgettable vacations and world-class cuisine These are the best lake vacations for a summer break from Lake Tahoe in the US to Lake Como in Switzerland and the MICHELIN-recommended restaurants and bolt holes to bed down in when you visit where do fashion’s biggest names retreat for a bite and a bed We imagine the post-Gala sanctuaries of the chicest attendees these iconic chefs mentor professional chefs who have an ego Who knew brisket and biscuits could be so good From tartan fabrics and stag antler furnishings to rare Scotch whiskies and castle views you'll have no doubt which country you're in when staying at these Michelin-Key hotels she has championed America’s farm-to-table movement for 54 years The self-proclaimed “unofficial talent scout” shares his local favorites from the city he calls home Non-members can add the privileges at checkout through our 30 day free trial By continuing I accept the Terms & Condition and Privacy Policy. I would like to receive Newsletter from MICHELIN Guide Save lists of your favorite restaurants & hotels To chef/owner Dominica Rice-Cisneros, Bombera is more than just a restaurant Her multicultural neighborhood shaped her palate and culinary identity. \u201cI thought being from Los Angeles was a disadvantage because I did not grow up in Napa or France I grew up in Eagle Rock and in Chinatown; it wasn\u2019t an orchard I thought I was behind in my culinary training,\u201d says Rice-Cisneros \u201cI wanted a connection to the community and its people,\" says Rice-Cisneros \"That\u2019s what gets me out of bed every morning It helps me focus and brings me energy every day.\u201d \u201cMexican cuisine is an amazing art form that is part of women's history,\u201d Rice-Cisneros continues \u201cWe want people to be aware of our female crew of masa masters Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article Print A new constitutional amendment targets GMO corn seeds produced in the United States and other countries.In Mexico corn is central to culture and national identity “Corn is Mexico,” President Claudia Sheinbaum says.Threats by President Trump to impose tariffs and launch the U.S military against drug cartels increased support for the amendment MEXICO CITY — There’s a popular saying in Mexico where corn is as central to national mythology as it is gastronomy Mexico’s leaders voted to enshrine that concept in the Constitution declaring native corn “an element of national identity” and banning the planting of genetically modified seeds “Corn is Mexico,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said recently describing the reform as a way to secure Mexico’s sovereignty “We have to protect it for biodiversity but also culturally because corn is what intrinsically links us to our origins Felipe Martinez harvests his corn on his farm in San Jeronimo Xayacatlan (Associated Press) The amendment to the Constitution comes after the defeat in December of a related effort that sought to phase out all imports of genetically modified corn Then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a presidential decree in 2023 banning the use of genetically engineered corn in dough and tortillas and for animal feed and industrial use but a trade dispute panel ruled that it violated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement Mexico agreed to abide by the panel’s ruling The amendment received the last approval needed from Congress on Wednesday and it has been sent to Sheinbaum for her signature It was also approved by a majority of state legislatures sells Mexico about $5 billion of genetically modified corn which has been designed to resist pests and tolerate herbicides Most of that corn is used to feed livestock it was mostly illegal to plant modified corn in Mexico thanks to a 2013 lawsuit brought by farmer activists And they say the presence of engineered seeds and corn in Mexico threatens the vast diversity of maize crops here which span from burnt orange to purple and pink and which have been adapted over centuries to be grown at different altitudes and climates “There’s a disturbing level of contamination of native maize with genetically modified traits,” said Timothy Wise a researcher at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University Some ancestral varieties of Mexican corn have already gone extinct “the product of illegal plantings and uncontrolled and undetected cross-pollination.” where corn has become not just a staple of the diet but a symbol of Mexico itself The invention of corn by Mexicans is only comparable to man’s invention of fire when Mesoamerican farmers started to domesticate the wild grass known as teosinte It has been revered here ever since, with sculptors carving images of Centeot, the Aztec deity of corn, into pre-Hispanic temples and artists such as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo prominently featuring corn husks, cornfields and corn dishes in their paintings. The poet Octavio Paz was one of many to extol the plant’s virtues, saying, “The invention of corn by Mexicans is only comparable to man’s invention of fire.” Probably no people in the world get a larger share of their calories from corn than Mexicans, with researchers estimating that the average person here eats one to two pounds per day. A man sells corn in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) It is mashed into masa and cooked into tortillas, tamales and tlacoyos. Its kernels are soaked in fragrant pozole and brewed into a hearty breakfast drink known as atole. “It’s at the root of our culture, giving us strength and identity,” said María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, a researcher in molecular genetics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “It’s our staple. Losing sovereignty over a fundamental aspect of our life and health is very risky.” Álvarez-Buylla led Mexico’s National Council on Humanities, Science and Technology until last year, and has published studies claiming risks to health and the environment from genetically modified corn and the herbicides associated with it. She says U.S. corn is less nutritious than the Mexican version and is linked to liver disease and other problems. Her research found that 9 in 10 tortilla samples from several cities in Mexico had traces of genetically modified corn. The U.S., its farmers and the companies that sell engineered corn seeds reject Mexico’s claim that their products come with risks. They celebrated the December trade dispute ruling, which came after a concerted lobbying effort by corn producers in states such as Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. “This win illustrates the power of corn advocacy,” said Kenneth Hartman Jr. of the National Corn Growers Assn. Mexico was an exporter of corn until as recently as the 1980s. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, which laid the groundwork for the current trade pact, changed that. Many small family farms in Mexico could not compete with big U.S. farmers who enjoy hefty federal subsidies. In the three decades since NAFTA took effect, annual corn imports to Mexico grew from roughly 3.1 million metric tons to nearly 23.4 million metric tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Grains Council. The change forced many Mexican farmers to shift to subsistence farming or to take up seasonal work far from their homes. Many others left to find work in the United States. Wise said it was ironic that the U.S. had used the free trade agreement to oppose Mexico’s efforts to ban corn imports at the same time that Trump imposed — and then reversed — tariffs on U.S. imports. U.S. trade policy, he said, appears to be: “We’ll ignore the agreement when it’s convenient for us. We’ll enforce it when it has an impact on some biotech companies.” He said Mexicans had long ago decided that they don’t want genetically modified corn, and that it largely came down to one thing: taste. Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report. Kate Linthicum is a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times based in Mexico City. World & Nation Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map ExplorationPemex targets light oil in two-well campaign offshore MexicoCompany to drill exploration wells in the Sureste and Tampico-Misantla basins LONDON – Murphy Oil’s first operated well offshore Mexico has found hydrocarbons in the Cholula prospect The location is in block 5 in moderate water depths in the Sureste basin; the other partners are PC Carigali (part of Petronas) and Sierra Oil & Gas Further drilling will likely be needed to confirm the commerciality of the block adding that it was in talks to sell its interest in the block The company also holds 20% equity in blocks 10 and 12 where geological interpretation is under way of purchased seismic data Another UK-headquartered independent,Cairn Energy is a partner to Eni in Mexico’s offshore block 7 Eni is progressing preparations for permits to initiate drilling and the partners aim to drill the first well this summer Cairn itself will operate its second well in the sector on the Alom prospect in block 9 in shallow water in the Sureste basin, also during 3Q. The exploration plan has been approved, with Maersk supplying the semisubMaersk Developer and Schlumberger providing onshore and supply base operations the company and its partners have submitted an exploration plan for offshore block 15 in the shallow water Tampico-Misantla basin Here an environmental baseline survey was recently completed As engineers from the Mexican national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) struggle to meet production targets that can revert years of declines in production of crude and natural gas energy expert Alfredo Guzmán has a message to them: "You're looking in the wrong place!" Pemex is aiming to boost production in southeastern Mexico beginning with the 1976-82 presidency of José López Portillo once made Mexico the world's fourth largest oil producer The Cantarell oil field that once produced more than 2.2 million b/d of crude is all but exhausted and Mexican crude output has been halved since its 2004 peak while gas production has seen a similar fall since peaking in 2009 Dry natural gas production from the Pemex processing centers continued to fall in May dipping 10.3% year/year to average 2.192 Bcf/d Crude output dropped 10.1% to 1.66 million b/d the Permian Basin has produced more than 4 million b/d of crude and 12 Bcf/d of gas and in a record space of time," said Guzmán a founding member of Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) But Mexico’s oil industry has a card up its sleeve though it seems very reluctant to play it "The irony is that Mexico has a basin that has resources very similar to those of the Permian IHS Markit has previously said that the Tampico-Misantla Basin The Tampico-Misantla Basin was the cradle of the Mexican oil industry last century and British oil companies that were nationalized in 1938 The company chiefs were dazzled by their success in the south-east and they starved Tampico-Misantla of resources,” Guzmán said He was head of Pemex’s northern region until the early years of this century “And as the center of gravity of the oil industry moved to the south-east northern Veracruz was all but abandoned by the Mexican state and federal governments.” But Guzmán argues that those who seek to promote a rapid recovery in production of hydrocarbons -- as the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised -- should be looking once again at Tampico-Misantla Though the potential of both the Permian and Tampico-Misantla is similar the current results of their production is radically different Production in Tampico-Misantla today is negligible If the growth rate of the Permian could be reproduced in Mexico output of Tampico-Misantla could grow by 1 million b/d of crude in less than five years But in Mexico doubts over whether hydraulic fracturing (fracking) will continue to be permitted is clouding the horizon for would-be investors and the Permian owes its success to fracking The CNH this week approved the technique for two contracts in Tampico-Misantla Industry sources say that fracking has been used frequently in Mexico Pemex’s own 2019 budget includes 3.35 billion pesos for three unconventional pilot projects in the Burro-Picachos and the CNH has sanctioned fracking at four exploration blocks in Tampico-Misantla said that he would “suspend” the most recent CNH authorizations Indeed political uncertainty continues to plague the industry even as the government sets aggressive production targets over the next six years which would have placed on offer nine blocks targeting unconventional gas resources in the Burgos Basin It would have been the first auction for unconventional acreage in Mexico’s history Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday a plan to boost natural gas production from state-owned oil and gas firm Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to 5 Bcf/d by the end of her six-year term Mexico’s natural gas production averaged 3.54 Bcf/d in December down from 4.10 Bcf/d in the same month last year Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum signed legislation on Wednesday to enshrine the dominance of state-owned hydrocarbons producer Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and government electricity company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) The new administration in Mexico has slowed natural gas and oil activity for Halliburton Co. but those issues are likely to be resolved later this year Investors in the Mexican energy sector face increased regulatory and legal uncertainty in 2025 according to Mexico City-based consulting and political risk firm Integralia Forecasts for Mexico’s natural gas demand suggest imports should continue to grow in 2025 included shallow-water blocks in the Tampico-Misantla and Southeast basin areas along the country’s Gulf Coast Twenty companies and 16 joint ventures from 15 countries took part in the bidding Eni Mexico and Lukoil PJSC were two individual operators awarded offshore acreage nine of these came with committed exploration wells Mexico Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said the country expects to reach 170,000 boe/d if the blocks prove successful The country’s most recent round fared better than its Round 1 in July 2015, which awarded only two shallow water blocks of 14 that were offered (OGJ Online, July 27, 2015) The country has since improved its contract terms and the bidding process to attract more international companies Only one of four blocks offered in the Tampico-Misantla Area received bids Joint-venture partners DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG and Petroleos Mexicanos SA (Pemex) were awarded the block with an economic proposal of 69.5% and an additional 1% investment factor and 4 in the Tampico-Misantla basin received no bids Area 5 in the Veracruz basin also received no bids Mexico’s Southeast basin generated most of the bidding activity Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) awarded Ecopetrol SA the 559-sq-km Area 6 along with its partner Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas subsidiary PC Carigali Mexico SA The firms offered the government 65.19% of operating profits with an additional 1% investment factor Area 6 lies in 30-80 m of water and consists of light oil Area 8 in the Southeast basin covers 586 sq km and Ecopetrol partnered with Pemex offering 20.10% with no additional investment factor Ecopetrol and Pemex provided the only bid for Block 8 in this round Ecopetrol said in a press release it holds 50% interest in both blocks with Petronas holding 50% on Area 6 and Pemex with 50% on Area 8 Cairn Energy PLC picked up two licenses covering 1,100 sq km in the Southeast basin through its wholly owned subsidiary Capricorn Energy Ltd Cairn holds 30% interest in the Eni SPA-operated Block 7 Eni holds 45% interest with Citla holding the remaining 25% The bid includes state participation of 75% and an additional 1.5% investment factor The block is in 150-520 m of water and consists of light oil Cairn acquired a 65% operating interest in Block 9 with partner Citla Energy SAPI de CV holding 35% Cairn said it anticipates exploration drilling to commence in 2019-20 for both blocks The company will operate Block 10 with 100% interest Eni already holds a 100% stake in Area 1 in the Southeast basin, where the exploration and appraisal campaign is successfully ongoing and a fast-track plan for the development of the Amoca field is being finalized, with plans for an early production phase (OGJ Online, Mar. 24, 2017) Blocks 10 and 14 are joined to Area 1 and Eni expects to build up a new core area in the case of a successful exploration campaign Eni holds 60% interest in Block 14 with Citla holding the remaining 40% Repsol SA won its first major exploration contract in Mexico with Block 11 The operator partnered with Mexico-independent Sierra Perote The winning bid offered state participation of 62.28% with no additional investment factor The 533-sq-km block is in 300-550 m of water Lukoil was awarded Block 12 with state participation of 75% and a 1% investment factor The 521 sq km block is in 100-500 m of water and contains heavy oil Total E&P Mexico SA and Royal Dutch Shell PLC were awarded Block 15 with a state participation of 30.11% and no additional investment factor The JV partners provided the sole bid for the 972-sq-km block Contact Tayvis Dunnahoe at [email protected] but the Canadian-based producer is setting up to hit what it is eyeing as a home run in the Tampico-Misantla Basin The so-called “super basin,” hyped as a potential contender to the Permian Basin is in the northern part of the southern Gulf state of Veracruz and some areas of the neighboring states of Tamaulipas and Puebla For years the basin has dwelt in the shadows Tampico-Misantla is where the Mexican oil industry began in the early years of the last century with the prolific Cerro Azul well Cerro Azul launched what became known as the "Golden Lane" by the mainly U.S The lane's gold lost almost all of its glitter by the time offshore discoveries were making their mark in the early 1970s establishing Mexico as a major global oil producer Now the basin could be poised for a big comeback in terms of the oil it has produced to date and its potential," said Renaissance’s Kevin Smith the basin has Upper Jurassic shales that are very thick and not developed to date If the shales had been discovered in the United States or Canada “they would have been developed with great intensity for many years..." A year ago Russia's OAO Lukoil chose Renaissance to partner in an integrated oilfield service (OFS) contract for the Amatitlan block by Mexico’s state-run Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) The block is in the Chicontepec paleochannel formation within Tampico-Misantla under the terms of the 2013-14 energy reform for "migration" to regular exploration and production production-sharing or license contracts UK-based Petrofac recently completed with its Santuario block in the southern state of Tabasco The Amatitlan block is being developed by Renaissance and Lukoil as part of a group of integrated OFS contracts overseen by global industry heavyweights that include Halliburton Co. as well as Mexico's Constructora y Perforadora Latina Renaissance last fall secured an agreement to acquire 50% of Perforadora's half-stake in the neighboring block The 61,300-acre Pitepec Integrated Exploration and Production Contract is to explore and produce oil and gas near Poza Rica in Veracruz The contract is "positioned to migrate into a contract of exploration and extraction pursuant to the constitutional amendments of the Mexican Energy Reform," Renaissance said last fall Renaissance would have the exclusive right to acquire up to 50% of Performadora’s interest in the Pitepec block at fair market value Renaissance would also hold the right to operate Pitepec post migration The Pitepec block is adjacent to the 60,000-acre Amatitlan block OFS contracts were used widely in Chicontepec when then-Mexico President Vicente Fox in the early 2000s announced a $75 billion 20-year plan to develop what were reported to be 17 billion boe of proved probable and possible reserves in the formation Fox claimed that Chicontepec would eventually produce 1 million b/d of crude Industry sources note that Chicontepec proved to be a complex reservoir with some wells that were productive but many more that were uneconomic Renaissance’s executive team understands the challenges it faces in Chicontepec.The company has taken a different approach to that of Pemex "We are taking a very selective approach,” he said We have to be different in terms of the methods we use in each area that we tackle." "We are working hard to make in the Chicontepec a success but where we think the home run is if you travel deeper There you encounter the Upper-Jurassic shale packages and these shales have not been commercially addressed.” cores have been taken and there have been some impressive test rates from the shales but they have not yet been commercially developed The Upper Jurassic shales hold huge potential and that's new in the Tampico-Misantla basin a program of well repairs brought the Amatitlan block back into production in a modest way "we're into the second well of a 10-well program and that will be completed in the first half of this year "That program is expected to add a base of production for the block we'll be drilling to the Upper Jurassic shales with a horizontal well to prove up the formation’s potential With success we expect that this will result to be a multi-year drilling program." of hitting a home run.Renaissance went public in 2014 under founder Ian Telfer whose Goldcorp mining company had many years of successful experience in Mexico The two formerly controlled Realm Exploration until a 2011 takeover delivered a lucrative return to shareholders Renaissance's first operations were in three small blocks in the southern state of Chiapas which it won in the third auction of Mexico's Round One the first series of upstream auctions that ended the state monopoly that ran from 1938 until the 2013-14 oil reform Now Renaissance plans to develop a portfolio of high quality diversified shale and mature fields for growth in Mexico where it currently is Mexico’s very distant No As of January 2023, Mexico‘s proved oil reserves totaled 6 billion barrels, including crude oil, lease condensate, natural gas liquids and oil sands located primarily off Mexico’s southeast coast (formerly known as the Campeche Basin) Of the remaining reserves, 14% are in the Tampico-Misantla Basin and 5% in the Veracruz Basin, according to information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Mexico’s largest producing oil fields Mexico’s reserves are 70% offshore (mainly in the Southeast basin) and 30% onshore (mainly in the Tampico-Misantla basin) There are currently no known deepwater reserves Mexico’s production originates mainly in the Northeast Marine Region of the Southeast Basin Production data for 2022 show that Mexico’s three largest fields To take into account: Article 28 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States establishes that the exploration and extraction of oil and other hydrocarbons are exclusive activities of the State Mexico maintains direct dominion and inalienable and imprescriptible ownership of these resources The hydrocarbons market is a highly regulated market that allows private participation in some sectors In the case of oil or fuel export operations Any person wishing to export hydrocarbons must have a hydrocarbon export permit granted by the Ministry of Energy it is necessary to comply with the requirements established in the Hydrocarbons Law and the Agreement that establishes the goods whose import and export is subject to regulation by the Ministry of Energy Redacción: 7224059128info@opportimes.com Ten blocks awarded in Round 2.1 lease sale Interest in Mexico’s offshore oil and gas resources is ramping up as companies make plans for deepwater development and increase their E&P activities in Mexico’s shallow-water areas Evidence of this could be seen in the results of Mexico’s second bid round sale (Round 2.1) The Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) awarded 10 of the 15 shallow-water blocks on offer either individually or as part of consortiums seven were fresh entrants in Mexico’s upstream sector which had already won a shallow-water block in Round 1 came away from the most recent tender with three additional licenses Another big winner of Round 2.1 was new player Citla Energy which won three licenses in partnership with both Eni and Cairn Energy partnering with Germany’s DEA Deutsche for Tampico-Misantla Area 2 and Colombia’s Ecopetrol for Southeastern Basins Area 8 The most sought-after block was Southeastern Basins Area 9 which attracted six bids from major international oil companies such as Chevron and China National Offshore Oil Corp. as well as independent companies such as Talos Energy and Diavaz Two bidders tied in their proposals for that block but a consortium of Citla Energy and Cairn Energy were declared winners based on an additional cash bonus of more than $30 million The block spans 562 sq km and is estimated to hold 169 MMboe in 2P reserves All of the areas offered in Round 2.1 were located off the coasts of the states of Veracruz the 15 blocks covered more than 8,900 sq km and held a combined 4 Bboe in prospective resources The complete results of Round 2.1 are as follows: and 4 in Tampico-Misantla offer a total of 796 MMboe of unrisked The areas contain mostly light oil and dry gas Block 5 in Veracruz basin is a wet gas-bearing area with 215.6 MMboe of unrisked P50 resources and 15 are located in Cuencas del Sureste off the coast of southern Veracruz and Tabasco and together offer 1.5 Bboe of unrisked P50 resources which range from light to heavy oil as well as one wet gas (block 15) The auction is the fifth since the implementation of Mexico’s energy reform including one deepwater and two previous shallow-water tenders yielding 39 contracts signed with forecast investment over the life of the contracts at $48.8 billion E&P activities sanctioned under Round 1 are well underway in Mexico’s shallow-water areas and Sierra Oil & Gas began drilling the Zama-1 offshore well in block 7 in Mexico’s shallow-water Sureste basin This well represented the first time in nearly 80 years that a private company has drilled an offshore oil well in Mexico and it is the first exploration well on acreage awarded under the country’s first international licensing round in 2015 the Zama-1 well has a P90-P10 gross unrisked resource range of 100-500 MMbbl Premier expects that Zama-1 and the secondary target TheENSCO 8503 semisubmersible was selected to drill the well Eni says it has confirmed the presence of oil in multiple reservoirs with the Amoca-2 well in the Campeche Bay offshore Mexico It is located in the Contractual Area 1,200 km (124 mi) west of Ciudad del Carmen in 25 m (82 ft) of water The well reached TD of approximately 3,500 m (11,483 ft) encountering about 110 m (361 ft) of net oil pay from several good-quality Pliocene reservoir sandstones of which 65 m (213 ft) were discovered in a deeper The well confirmed the presence of 18° API oil in the shallower formations while the newly discovered deeper sandstones contain high quality light oil but the well indicates a meaningful upside to the original estimates The Area 1 drilling campaign will continue with a new well in the Amoca area (Amoca-3) followed by the Miztón-2 and Tecoalli-2 delineation wells to be drilled in 2017 to appraise existing discoveries as well as targeting new undrilled pools Eni holds a 100% stake in the Area 1 production-sharing agreement and is already evaluating options for a fasttrack phased development of the fields Interest also remains strong in Mexico’s deepwater areas Eight out of 10 blocks were sold in last December’s deepwater lease sale CNH approved a new deepwater block to state oil company PEMEX but also stipulated that PEMEX had to develop the area with a partner that would eventually operate the field adjacent to PEMEX’s Nobilis-Maximino block could produce 80,000 b/d of oil once it reaches peak output Development of the area is not expected to begin until 2024 at the earliest “It’s incredibly important for the country to move forward with deepwater projects,” said Hector Moriera Moriera added that 53% of Mexico’s prospective oil resources are in deepwater deposits “That’s where much our country’s oil future lies,” he said An auction to pick a partner for PEMEX in the Nobilis-Maximino block which would only be Mexico’s second deepwater joint venture has been approved by the company’s board and is set for year-end Nobilis-Maximino is estimated to hold reserves of some 500 MMbbl based on data gathered from five wells drilled in the past and is located just south of Mexico’s maritime border with the United States in the Perdido foldbelt where dozens of successful projects have been developed on the US side of the same basin in recent decades the seismic service industry continues to produce data on Mexico’s offshore resources CGG delivered the final products of the Encontrado multi-client reprocessing project across the Gulf of Mexico’s Perdido fold belt to CNH and associated data volumes covering a 38,000 sq km (14,672 sq mi) area straddling the Mexico/US border are available on a non-exclusive basis The uplift in the imaging of these final products over the Fast Trax RTM data delivered last year means the prospective reservoirs can be identified and mapped in unprecedented detail The improved depth information in the final volume also has a material impact on the understanding of the petroleum systems and the location and type of hydrocarbons that may have charged the reservoirs these improvements enable an enhanced assessment of prospectivity in this emerging exploration frontier CGG said that it has embarked on a JumpStart fully integrated geoscience program to complement the seismic data from the Encontrado project and geologic data to deliver all the information needed in one place for a comprehensive understanding of the petroleum systems present supply and equipment providers are also ramping up their presence in Mexico Aberdeen-based Sparrows Group reported that it had appointed crane service and maintenance provider as its authorized service center in Mexico The partnership will support Sparrows in meeting the requirements of its existing contract with state-oil company PEMEX for servicing and parts provision for more than 60 offshore cranes As the original equipment manufacturer of the cranes Sparrows says it will carry out competence assessments and any required training to Ginemex technicians who will conduct all maintenance work locally Engineering support will be provided by Sparrows’ multi-discipline team in Houston The work scope is expected to begin in the coming months While the shallow-water drilling activities and successful bid rounds suggest a resurgence for Mexico’s offshore industry it will likely be some time before production emerges from these activities Investment firm Tudor Pickering & Holt has said that while shallow-water production will be the next material near-term contributor to Mexican production it will not have a significant effect for several years The firm predicts that Mexican production will continue to decline by about 5% per year through the end of this decade Total crude oil production in Mexico now stands at 2.01 MM b/d Just enter the search terms and press "Enter" Just enter the search terms and press "Enter" As global demand for fish continues to rise tilapia could hold the key to a more sustainable future it is crucial to determine which production system strikes the best balance between economic viability and environmental sustainability This balance can only be achieved through science and advanced technology Research in aquaculture has largely focused on species biology and water quality often overlooking a critical factor: the financial viability of fish farming operations The lack of clear analysis regarding which technology to adopt and the costs involved has led many fish farmers to fail in their ventures due to an incomplete understanding of financial feasibility A recent study led by experts from the Instituto Tecnológico de Misantla and published in Sustainability has conducted an in-depth evaluation of production costs and growth performance of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in intensive aquaculture systems The researchers compared three emerging technologies that have shown promise for tilapia farming: recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) capable of achieving densities between 70 and 120 kilograms per cubic metre; Aquaponic Systems producing up to 5 tonnes of fish and 44.8 kilograms of vegetables annually; and biofloc technology supporting up to 36 kilograms of fish per cubic metre researchers identified feed as the most significant expense followed by energy costs in RAS and Biofloc systems infrastructure emerges as the second largest expense Comparing cost and profitability show that RAS’ production costs range from USD 2.79 to USD 8.80 with a high initial investment and operational complexity Aquaponic costs approximately USD 2.80 per kilogram requiring significant investment and proving difficult to scale for small-scale farmers; and biofloc technology being the more cost-effective ranging from USD 1.65 to USD 2.10 per kilogram it demands high electricity consumption and continuous monitoring Experts emphasise the need for a detailed financial analysis continued investment in cost-reducing technologies is essential to make these systems accessible to smaller producers the researchers at the Instituto Tecnológico de Misantla consider aquaponics to be the most promising in terms of return on investment while biofloc technology shows strong potential for operational cost reduction a lack of comprehensive economic data still makes it difficult to determine the most optimal technology for tilapia farming further economic research is required to support informed decision-making and enhance the sustainability of the industry 25 March 2025 | A multilingual website offers citizens in-depth insights into European aquaculture misPeces is published from El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz - Spain) About us Advertise Contact us Newsletter News In-Depth Special Reports Invest in Spain LinkedIn Facebook X Youtube Legal notice | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy Usamos cookies y otras técnicas de rastreo 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Ver políticas de cookies Renaissance Oil Corp (ROE.V) is currently drilling off its first unconventional well at its onshore Amatitlán block on the Tampico-Misantla super basin in Mexico one of only twenty-four ‘super basins’ on the entire planet This particular super basin is estimated to contain over 30 billion barrels of oil and more than 20 trillion cubic feet of wet gas This drilling is a turning point for the company I know people who have been waiting years for this development named Profeta (the Spanish word for prophet) Profeta-1 will go a long way toward confirming the quality of Renaissance’s resource at Amatitlán Positive results could have a dramatic impact on the company’s share price Fact: Mexico holds some of the largest undeveloped oil & gas resources in the world. The country’s enormous unconventional resource potential is virtually untouched. This is why Renaissance Oil Corp is there The company’s flagship asset, the Amatitlán project is a massive 60,000-acre block of ground estimated to hold over 6 billion barrels of oil within its subsurface shales widely considered to be the ‘sweet spot’ of the Tampica Misantla Super Basin was the first shale oil play to be pursued and acquired by a foreign company in Mexico Renaissance’s partner on the project is Russian oil giant LUKOIL a behemoth in the oil sector boasting production of 1.7 million b/d in operations and subsidiaries in over 40 countries around the world Nice to have a partner with that kind of clout Mexico’s once powerful state-run oil monopoly is also along for the ride via royalty interests Renaissance’s Board of Directors, management, and technical team are an impressive lot The deal Renaissance was able to strike with LUKOIL wouldn’t have been nearly as favorable had it not been for the pedigree of this team rights of first refusal on an adjacent block (Pitepec) … cool beans With regards to the CIEP (Contract of Exploration and Extraction) noted in the above slide, according to news released on the PEMEX website dated June 22nd the PEMEX board has approved the migration of the Amatitlán CIEP to a CEE (Contract of Exploration and Extraction) My read is that Renaissance’s interest in Amatitlán is all but a lock The next step for the partners is to negotiate terms – contractual According to the company’s second quarter results progress made on their shallow Tertiary aged Chicontepec formations at Amatitlán is impressive… six additional wells were drilled intersecting the shallow Tertiary aged Chicontepec formations have been drilled with the drilling of a seventeenth well now underway Eleven of the new wells have undergone completion operations and been brought onto production with further completions expected to be concluded in the coming weeks Renaissance has also completed workovers and repair operations on eight wells of the scheduled workover program HIGHLIGHTS from its most recent quarter include: It’s a nice buffer to have while the company focuses it sights on drilling off its first unconventional well on the Tampico-Misantla super basin Equity Guru’s Lukas Kane dove into the Q2 results recently Renaissance Oil (ROE.V) Q2, 2018 revenues increase 40% A broad view of the company can also be perused via the following piece by yours truly… Renaissance Oil (ROE.V): A smashed monopoly, a dream team and a Super Basin the spudding of Profeta-1 is a highly anticipated event It’s important to note that Renaissance’s technical team was the first to develop oil-bearing shales in the US That expertise and experience should go a long way in Mexico in order to expedite the process of penetrating the Upper Jurassic shales Renaissance chose to re-enter an existing well rather than drilling off a new one Profeta-1 was actually drilled by PEMEX during the 1980s From the core and technical data collected back in the day Renaissance was able to determine that the Upper Jurassic shales contain a high-quality resource of light oil The Renaissance team believe the petroleum volume Comparisons have been drawn to other tight oil plays specifically the shales of US Eagle Ford… It will take roughly six or seven weeks for the company drill through all three of the Upper Jurassic members – Pimienta Drilling began in mid-July so that takes us into the first week or two of September Core and technical data will be collected and compiled along the way Then comes the fun part: after all of the data is analyzed the company’s team of geological sleuths will make a decision on where to insert the horizontal leg of the well After drilling off the horizontal section of Profeta-1 A drum roll will then crescendo for between thirty and sixty days as results from Profeta-1 are anticipated in Q4 of this year Drilling this unconventional well is expected to cost somewhere between $12 and $14M is fully funded for its 25% share of the total cost I noted above that there was a measure of uncertainty on the political front in Mexico. The election of populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador (a.k.a. AMLO) last month throw into question future policies related to oil and gas exploration and development. AMLO has stated that he intends to ban fracking. At the same time, he stated his intention to boost oil production I honestly can’t see how he can accomplish one without the other It doesn’t really matter at this juncture ALMO doesn’t take office until December Profeta-1 drilling has not been impacted and the company is moving forward on all fronts The company’s conventional production growth Profeta-1 – the company’s first unconventional well at its onshore Amatitlán block on the Tampico-Misantla super basin – is the big enchilada The buzz in the air surrounding the drilling of this well has been bolstered by good science – e.g. supportive data from 20 wells and 222 cuttings samples have lead this team to conclude that the shales underlying Amatitlán are of the highest quality Renaissance currently has 278.3 million shares outstanding giving the company a basic market-cap of $55.7M There are a number of potential short to medium term catalysts here: the migration of the Amatitlán contract to a new level exercising the company’s option on Amatitlán for 62.5% exercising its option to acquire additional prospective ground (Pitepec) along the shale fairway… Profeta-1 is the ultimate catalyst in this authors opinion Success on Profeta could launch the company’s stock higher… multiples higher FULL DISCLOSURE: Renaissance Oil Corp is an Equity Guru client and website in this browser for the next time I comment A Veracruz woman got her dying wish last Saturday when a giant penis sculpture was erected atop her gravestone in Ignacio Zaragoza as she often did in life according to her family at the sight of onlookers taking photos with the larger-than-life penis that now decorates the local cemetery She was a long-time political activist and could often be found talking to local politicians both during their campaigns and after they won she lamented the fact that there were so many public monuments to politicians a reproductive organ she considered worthy of honor and reverence She even believed that the penis should have its own holiday when its importance as a tool of pleasure could be celebrated by all Her family said that Doña Cata was never embarrassed by talking about sex and didn’t believe that others should be either The woman requested before she died that they erect the penis sculpture atop her grave to remind all who knew her of her joyful and playful character in life was well-received by the cemetery according to the family They said they knew of no other monument quite like it in another cemetery in the country Doña Catarina was born in 1921 and lived to 100 She had nine children and many grandchildren went on to be the mayor of Misantla in the early 2000s With reports from Publimetro and Formato 7 ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC Alfredo Guzmán is an untiring advocate for Mexico’s oil and gas industry and its people He tells GEO ExPro about his years exploring new geographic and technical frontiers in the country and his hopes for the Mexico’s future in petroleum Mexico practically dominated the industry as the world’s second largest oil producer Its well-known Northern Golden Lane fields in the Tampico-Misantla Basin were pumping up to 300,000 barrels of oil a day That era created a strong sense of pride for the country and has motivated some of Mexico’s modern-day geologists to push for a renaissance Believing that Mexico has much more potential than recognized a former Vice President of Exploration at Pemex and charter Commissioner of Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission Having worked in all eleven hydrocarbon-bearing basins of Mexico and been responsible for great surges in production Guzmán knows the country is steeped in unrecovered resources that could bolster the struggling Mexican economy “Mexico is poorly explored and exploited because since 1938 the government has maintained a monopoly on the search and production of hydrocarbons It is impossible to benefit from its huge endowment with only one oil company,” Guzmán said “Even if Mexico had an ecosystem of thousands of operating and service companies that would still only make a dent in all that richness.” also knows that the window for capitalizing on hydrocarbons is shrinking as the world searches for reliable sources of sustainable energy he has been championing efforts for Mexico to lift its current ban on hydraulic fracturing and unsuspend auctions for private investors and international operators worked as a geologist for Pemex for 34 years the young Alfredo initially opted to study chemistry at Texas Tech University until a geology professor took him to Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo Guzmán became mesmerized with the stories that rocks could tell about the earth and found himself following in his father’s footsteps After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology he declined offers to work at independent oil companies Guzmán was especially attracted to the large carbonate fields discovered in the Tampico-Misantla Basin of North Central Mexico He began his career at Pemex in 1974 as a field geologist Just four years later those same carbonate fields gave rise to the Sureste Basin’s Cantarell field which became the world’s largest offshore oil field in 2004 when it reached its peak production of 2.2 MMbopd Guzmán participated in the discovery of substantial gas fields in the Vizcaíno Desert and in the Gulf of Cortés but they could not compete with the oil-rich Sureste Basin and were not developed “I was not frustrated about these discoveries not being economical to develop,” Guzmán notes he worked in the Chihuahua Basin in search of potential similar to the Permian Basin across the border in the US but the difference between the geological conditions across the Rio Grande ended any hope of finding sweet spots there He then focused on the Sierra Madre Oriental foldand-thrust belt west of the Tampico-Misantla Basin but a lack of high-resolution seismic data and the national pursuit of less complex basins prevented its exploration Guzmán continued to explore the Tampico-Misantla where substantial oil accumulations had been found in carbonates rigs and investments were transferred to the recently discovered fields in the Sureste Basin,” Guzmán explains abandoned for all practical purposes the exploration and development of the Tampico-Misantla Basin.” The move made sense for a company In the early 1990s Guzmán was asked to move to northern Mexico to lead the rejuvenation of non-associated gas production in the Burgos and Sabinas Basins which were experiencing significant declines Having read about the success of multidisciplinary approaches in South Texas he put together five such teams for the job and harnessing the talent of this broad range of experts Guzmán and the teams evaluated undeveloped discoveries and proposed leads prospects and drilling locations based on 3D seismic data daily gas production increased from 180 MMcfg to more than 1.6 Bcfg During a well recovery platform installation at the Carpa oil field Guzmán became Exploration Manager of Pemex’s North Region and oversaw the exploration of northern Mexico including the deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico he became Vice President of Exploration and he implemented a process for the evaluation of exploration opportunities the country’s registry grew from roughly 50 drillable locations to more than 2,100 leads prospects and identified drilling locations Guzmán was made Vice President of the North Region in 2001 by Pemex E&P CEO Luis Ramírez Corzo becoming the first geologist in Mexico to hold such a position as that region was responsible for all of the country’s dry gas resources He oversaw operations in the Veracruz Basin and applied 3D seismic technology across all producing areas resulting in more than a dozen new discoveries After researching the prolific gas wells in Trinidad and Tobago he began implementing horizontal drilling completions with slotted casing and within three years daily production jumped from 130 MMcfg to nearly 1 Bcfg “Alfredo has carefully studied the resource development in the US and other places in the world and realized how these lessons could be applied to Mexico’s extraordinary opportunities,” said Paul Weimer professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Director of the Energy and Minerals Applied Research Center who worked with Guzmán on a research project between Pemex and the university “He is a fantastic geologist and a global ambassador of our profession and industry.” Mexico´s President Fox visiting the gas production gas facilities of the Burgos basin Poza Rica Mayor (right) visit the Lankahuasa gas field discovery With Nigeria´s Ministry of Energy and OPEC officials at a Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists function DeGolyer and MacNaughton had certified in the 1960s that the Chicontepec Sub-basin contained 137 Bb oil and 60 Tcfg – yet the area of about 5,000 km2 was producing only 3,000 bopd “Although our marching orders were to explore for gas this was too challenging to let it rest,” Guzmán said “This basin has reservoirs strikingly similar to the Spraberry Formation of the Permian Basin Guzmán and his team began testing reservoirs in 2002 raising output to 30,000 bopd and making the case for drilling 16,000 new wells Yet additional investments were desperately needed and Pemex had not really funded exploration since the mid-1980s it authorized the development of the Chicontepec and the Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields but hit a snag when oil prices tumbled in 2013 rendering the Chicontepec project uneconomical When Mexico historically opened its borders to outside operators that same year an air of hope penetrated the industry and the country and Mexico waited for the price of oil to slowly rise Developing new discoveries could be the gateway to renewed prosperity as oil labored through a long comeback and reached levels high enough to make shale plays economical Mexico became less welcoming to third parties and in 2018 announced a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing – dashing hopes for a new era “These are regretful decisions,” Guzmán says “Hydraulic fracturing is capital intensive independent parties could help the industry thrive.” More than 90% of the substantial resources in the Tampico-Misantla Basin are in tight rocks which require horizontal wells with hydraulic fracturing for recovery “The basin has the same amount of oil and similar reservoirs as the Permian Basin Guzmán shared Mexico’s plight at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Global Super Basins seminar in 2019 AAPG Past President Charles Sternbach recalled that “Alfredo gave a brilliant assessment of Mexico’s undercapitalization He has been tireless in his work to help Mexico achieve its potential.” Guzmán has been lobbying for Mexico to encourage third parties to help bridge the technology gap and also adopt best practices in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing working to counter local environmentalists’ radical rhetoric about risk affording him more time to dedicate to the AAPG having served as President of the Latin American and the Caribbean Region a two-time candidate for AAPG President and recipient of the Michel T He also served as President of the Mexican Association of Petroleum Geologists With wife Kitty at the Tajin Pyramid located a few miles from Poza Rica Guzmán was asked to become a charter Commissioner for Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) He strived to make known how Mexico’s hydrocarbon endowment could benefit its people if resources could be monetized he has been promoting the development of tight oil resources in the Tampico-Misantla Basin that could easily make up for the steady declines of the country’s legacy fields his tenure at the CNH was short because of a health condition of his wife Guzmán had moved his wife and three daughters 18 times and to nine different states Yet he continues to advocate for Mexico’s oil and gas industry and its people “The age of oil will be over in 20 or 30 years Guyana and Argentina that are ramping up their Playuela gas well blow-out Alfredo Guzmán production will make a killing once the price of oil recovers,” Guzmán says “Mexico could easily produce an additional couple of million barrels a day in northern Veracruz if private companies and hydraulic fracturing were allowed The income could solve in the short run all of the country’s need for oil and benefit a lot of people in Mexico.” .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By The Associated PressMexico Tropical Weather A man walks through a flooded street during heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm Ingrid in the Gulf port city of Veracruz Mexican authorities rushed to evacuate neighborhoods located near riverbanks in eight Veracruz townships as Ingrid lashed the coast with heavy rains threatening more damage in a state where landslides and flooding have killed dozens of people in recent weeks Mexico -- Ingrid became the second hurricane of the Atlantic storm season off Mexico on Saturday prompting the evacuation of several thousand people while Tropical Storm Manuel threatened to cause flash floods and mudslides on the opposite side of the country Hurricane Ingrid was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) The storm was centered about 195 miles (315 km) east of Tuxpan National Hurricane Center in Miami said that if Ingrid stays on the forecast track it's likely to reach the coast of Mexico on Monday where the Hurricane Center says Ingrid will probably make landfall the government said in a statement that Independence Day festivities were cancelled in the cities of Tampico 15 and 16 celebrations commemorate Mexico's battle of independence from Spain Officials in the Gulf state of Veracruz began evacuating coastal residents Friday night and local civil protection authorities said that more than 5,300 people had been moved to safer ground about 3,500 people were being housed in official shelters with the rest staying with family and friends There were no immediate reports of injuries blamed on the storm More than 1,000 homes in Veracruz state have been affected by the storm to varying degrees and 20 highways and 12 bridges have suffered damages according to the state's civil protection authority A bridge collapsed near the northern Veracruz city of Misantla Friday cutting off the area from the state capital Thirteen people died when a landslide buried their homes in heavy rains spawned by Tropical Depression Fernand on Monday Tropical Storm Manuel was moving with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) It was 75 miles (120 kilometers) off the city of Lazaro Cardenas and 185 miles (300 kilometers) southeast of Manzanillo A tropical storm warning was in effect from Acapulco to Manzanillo Manuel was expected to produce 10 to 15 inches of rain over parts of the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero and life-threatening flash floods and mudslides were considered likely the remnants of Tropical Storm Humberto were swirling in the Atlantic It was expected to regenerate in a couple of days Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. 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