La Jornada – Germany’s Wintershall announces Block 30 crude oil discovery

German oil company Wintershall Dea on Tuesday reported a crude oil discovery in a block in shallow waters in the Gulf of Mexico that was awarded at auction in 2018.

The company, which has interests in 10 exploration blocks in the Gulf, said in a statement that according to preliminary estimates, the discovery in the Block 30 exploration could have contained between 200 and 300 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).

Kan is located about 25 kilometers off the coast of Tabasco and about 50 meters deep in the same area as the Zama deposits and the Polok and Chinwol deposits, where the Wintershall Dea interests are located.

Wintershall Dea owns 40 percent of Block 30, while UK-based Harbor Energy and Malaysia’s Sapura OMV each own 30 percent.

“Following the recent submission of the unit development plan for the Zama field and the acquisition of a significant interest in the producer hockey field, the discovery at Block 30 is the next major milestone for the Wintershall Dea in Mexico,” explained Martin Jungbloth, the company’s country manager in Mexico.

Wintershall Dea is the operator of the onshore Ogarrio field and owns 37 percent of the Hokchi block, which produces about 25,000 barrels of crude oil per day, as well as being the second largest shareholder in Zama behind Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).