On 5 May 2020, ENI announced the Ehecatl 1EXP directional new-field wildcat (NFW) after reach the total depth (TD) of 4,451m and evaluated the Lower Miocene section was plugged and abandon dry. The well is in the CNH-R02-L01-A7.CS/2017 Contract, A7.CS, Area 7 Block, spudded on 10 February 2020, using "Valaris 8505" S/S in a water depth of 426 m. The proposed total depth (PTD) was 4,518 m measured depth (MD) and 4,415 m true vertical depth (TVD). The primary target was the Lower Miocene from 3,561 m to 4,415 m. The well is located in the north central area of the block about 660 m south of the Cox 1 plugged and abandoned (P&A) by PEMEX at 3,075 m in 2007. ENI is operator of the contract with 45% working interest and partners are Capricorn with 30% and Citla with 25%.   The prospective resources for the well were 694 MMboe with the probability success factor of 36%. The total well cost estimated in the drilling permit, including abandonment is USD 51.24 million at 1USD = 20 MXN.      On 25 September 2017, the CNH signed the final award contract with the consortium of ENI Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., Capricorn Energy Ltd - (Cairn), and Citla Energy E&P S.A.P.I. de C.V. for the CNH-R02-L01-A7.CS/2017 PSC contract, Area 7 block from the CNH-R02-L01/2016 Bid Round. ENI is operator with 45% working interest, Capricorn has 30% working interest, and Citla Energy has 25% working interest. The consortium offered 54.9% additional state take participation above the minimum 20.10% for a total state take participation of 75.00% or the maximum. The consortium offered an additional work unit factor of 1.5 equivalent to two wells. There were four other bids for the block. The 2nd highest bidder was the consortium of Repsol, Premier, and Sierra who bid total state take of 69.58% and 1.0 work unit factor, but this bid was slightly lower than the winning bid.       On 25 September 2018, the CNH approved the first exploration plan presented by the consortium of ENI, Capricorn (Cairn), and Citla for the CNH-R02-L01-A7.CS/2017 PSC contract, Area 7 block.        On 19 September 2019, ENI was granted approval by the CNH for the drilling permit for the Ehecatl 1EXP.   Background Information  On 19 September 2019, ENI was granted approval by the CNH for the modification of the exploration plan related to the CNH-R02-L01-A7.CS/2017 contract, A7.CS, Area 7 block. The modification of the originally approved plan of 25 September 2018 included several scenarios including the drilling of at least two commitment new-field wildcats (NFW). The operator also reclassified its prospects as to the drilling order for its base case scenario and incremental case scenarios that will commence in 2019 with the first NFW, a second well in 2020, and possibly a third NFW in 2021. ENI has four primary prospects it has identified including the Ehecatl, Calakmul, Ixchel, and Yatzil.     Ehecatl prospect has estimated prospective resources of 1.79 Bbo and 144 Bcfg in a Lower Miocene target with 36% probability of success.       Calakmul prospect has estimated prospective resources of 274 MMbo and 50 Bcfg in a Lower Miocene target with 36% probability of success.        Ixchel prospect has estimated prospective resources of 1.06 Bbo and 272 Bcfg in a Lower Miocene target with 30% probability of success.        Yatzil prospect has estimated prospective resources of 940 MMbo and 242 Bcfg in a Lower Miocene target with 33% probability of success.      The modified exploration plan has the operator drilling the Ehecatl prospect first in late 2019. It is speculated that the Ixchel will be drilled next in 2020 and the Yatzil in 2021. The Calakmul prospect is new and has lower prospective resources than the other two prospects but slightly higher success probability. The operator will continue to evaluate the prospects before making its final drill decisions on the 2nd and 3rd wells. The total budget approved for the base case scenario of drilling two wells starting with the Ehecatl prospect is USD 125.32 million over the four-year exploration period with USD 98.62 million allocated to the drilling of the two firm commitment wells. If the incremental commitment prospect is added the total budget would be USD 192.81 million with USD 153.34 million allocated to drilling three NFWs.
Mexico (Reforma-Akal Fold Belt (Sureste B.)) May