Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim Expands Energy Influence With Talks To Back Pemex Oil, Gas Projects

(Reuters) — Mexican state energy company Pemex is in talks with Carlos Slim which could see the billionaire tycoon help bankroll two of the country's most promising crude oil and natural gas fields, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The negotiations, which have not been previously reported, indicate Slim's growing clout in Mexico's struggling energy sector, expanding his business empire which already spans telecommunications, banking, insurance, retail and hospitality.

Slim, one of the world's richest people, has built close relations with the leftist government and avoided the public clashes that occasionally broke out between former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and big business.

Talos Mexico, in which Slim is a majority investor, Harbour Energy, and Pemex are in advanced discussions to jointly operate Zama, a deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico, a senior government source said.

The tycoon is also a eyeing participation in the country's most important onshore natural gas field, Ixachi, the government source and two other sources said.

While Pemex is the current operator of Zama, which has yet to start producing, the source said talks were leaning towards a joint operating agreement, meaning Pemex would cede some control - a rare model for the state company.

Pemex owns 50.43% of Zama while Talos Mexico and Harbour Energy own 17.4% and 32.2% respectively.

Pemex did not respond to a request for comment, while Grupo Carso - through which Slim owns the stake in Talos Mexico - declined to comment.

Linda Cook, the company's CEO, said last week on call with investors that there would likely be changes to the way Zama is operated, without giving details. Harbour Energy referred Reuters to Cook's comments in response to questions about the talks.

Grupo Carso would contribute the much-needed capital, the source said, adding "only minor details" still needed to be agreed. The funding would come through Talos Mexico, they added. The financial terms of the possible deal were not clear.

It comes after a long-running feud over who would operate Zama between Pemex and a private consortium of companies led by Houston-based Talos Energy.

Talos, which in 2017 discovered Zama's oil deposits in the first major discovery by a foreign company after a landmark energy reform, wanted to operate the deepwater Gulf of Mexico project, but Mexico's authorities gave Pemex the right instead.

Talos has since sold down its position in Talos Mexico, which owns the stake Zama, selling 80% to Zamajal, a company owned 90% by Grupo Carso.

Key Gas Field

Slim is also in early talks about investing in the country's most important gas discovery in more than a quarter of a century, Ixachi, in Veracruz state, said two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions and the government source.

Its production is currently sent to the Papan plant, which was specifically built for it.

Pemex has been contemplating building a second plant, of similar capacity, to help process up to 345 million cubic feet of gas per day, one of the sources said, with its cost running into nearly half a billion dollars.

Papan sweetens and dehydrates the sour wet natural gas that comes to the surface at Ixachi, and then further conditions it to produce liquefied petroleum gas that is used in Mexico for heating and cooking.

Grupo Carso and Ideal - a construction company also owned by Slim, expressed interest in financing the second plant, the source said. It could also involve an investment into the expansion of a separation battery, Perdiz, which gas from liquid hydrocarbons.

Slim's participation in Ixachi would likely be under a so-called mixed contract, the government source added.

Recently approved by Congress, mixed contracts allow Pemex to partner with private companies in exploration and production, so they can complement financing and expertise, while the state company retains ownership of the resources.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to guard the legacy of her predecessor and mentor Lopez Obrador, a resource nationalist who strengthened Pemex at the expense of private companies.

But Sheinbaum faces a tough reality, needing to keep the world's most indebted energy company afloat at a time when production has slumped to a four-decade low and new discoveries have largely disappointed.

"Slim's upper hand is that he gets along with all governments," said Alexia Bautista, a former Mexican diplomat who now is the country's lead analyst for political risk consultancy Horizon Engage.

"He knows how to cultivate relationships with all Mexican presidents, including with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with whom there were some frictions, and now with Claudia Sheinbaum, and then reap the benefits of it," Bautista said.

Bautista said he has shown to be pragmatic - and more flexible than others in the sector.

Last year, Slim and Pemex agreed to develop the country's first deepwater natural gas field, Lakach, which has been abandoned twice before because of high cost.