Skip to footer

New source of Mexican oil could hold 1 billion barrels

More than 500 million barrels of oil are estimated to lie beneath a newly discovered well site, with another 500 million barrels of oil expected to lie in surrounding areas, according to Consumer Energy Report.

|
Edgard Garrido/Reuters/File
The logo of Mexican petroleum company Pemex is seen on a tank gas at gas station in Mexico City in this November 2012 file photo. The company recently announced the largest solid-ground crude oil discovery made in the country in the past 10 years, according to Consumer Energy Report.
  • By CER News Desk Guest blogger

Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, has announced that it has discovered a crude oil deposit that could provide as much as 1 billion barrels by the time exploration and extraction is complete.

More than 500 million barrels are estimated to lie beneath the original well site, dubbed Navegante 1, at a depth of nearly 4 miles, with another 500 million barrels expected to lie in surrounding areas. PEMEX, a state-run oil firm, has already spent more than $10 billion in exploration efforts, culminating in this, the largest solid-ground crude discovery made in the country in the past 10 years. (Read More: How Much Oil is Left in the World?)

That same $10 billion has also gone towards offshore exploration, leading to two other major reserve discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico over the past few months; combined, these three new reserves promise to add nearly 30 billion barrels to world reserves. The offshore discoveries, made via PEMEX ultra-deep wells Trion-1 and Supremus-1, ended a drought for the firm that saw them come up short in the drilling of their last 22 wells, and the company’s perseverance was praised by Mexican president Felipe Calderon.

“PEMEX has steered itself toward investments in exploration, and it’s showing results,” said Calderon in an official statement. 

In addition to these latest reserve discoveries, PEMEX has also found success in the shale gas niche, locating prime wells in the Mexican-owned area of the Eagle Ford region; the company will begin offering contracts to develop that resource in early 2013. (Read More: Setting the Record Straight on U.S. Oil Reserves)

Combined, these new fossil fuel sources will require heavy investment to bring them to production, with government officials estimating costs of $35 billion per year to develop all sites simultaneously. With a previous government-approved budget of only $22.7 billion, PEMEX will need to petition Mexico’s federal government for the additional funds, potentially bringing about a major economic change for the country.

Source: Newly Found Mexican Oil Source Could Hold 1 Billion Barrels

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to New source of Mexican oil could hold 1 billion barrels
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/1128/New-source-of-Mexican-oil-could-hold-1-billion-barrels
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe