By MARK RAO

Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) subsidiary PC Carigali Mexico Operations SA de CV (PC Carigali Mexico) secured another water block in Mexico, marking the national oil company’s third award in the North American country.

The shallow water Block 6 is located in the Gulf of Mexico’s Salina Basin and covers 559 sq km, with water depths of between 30m and 80m.

The block will be operated via a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between PC Carigali Mexico and Columbia’s national oil company Ecopetrol.

“I am pleased with our new partnership with Ecopetrol and I am confident this will bring together our capabilities and expertise for a successful collaboration in the Mexico waters,” Petronas executive VP and CEO for upstream Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib said in a statement yesterday.

In the same statement, Petronas VP of exploration and upstream Emeliana Rice-Oxley said Mexico is largely under explored and holds substantial material opportunities for the company.

“We are very pleased to add Block 6 to our growing exploration portfolio in Mexico and be one of the early movers in this basin,” Rice-Oxley said.

“This is aligned with our strategy to explore for material oil in largely under explored prospective regions.”

Petronas said it will continue to chart its growth strategy in the country, with a total 5,491 sq km in gross acreage in the Salina Basin to date and a new office in the capital Mexico City scheduled to start operations by the third-quarter of this year.

The company previously secured deep water blocks in the Salina Basin early in December last year.

Block 4 was awarded to a 50:50 JV between PC Carigali Mexico and Sierra Oil & Gas S de RL de CV, while Block 5 was given to a four-way consortium with PC Carigali Mexico holding a 23.34% stake.