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Billionaire Carlos Slim agrees to acquire Lukoil's Mexico assets

The deal is valued at $270 million, and Grupo Carso will also repay $330 million in debt

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim's company Grupo Carso has agreed to purchase Fieldwood Mexico, which owns stakes in Russian oil major Lukoil's Ichalkil and Pokoch fields, the group said in a statement.

The deal is valued at $270 million, and the company will also repay $330 million in debt.

Zamajal, a Grupo Carso company, signed a binding agreement with Lukoil International Upstream Holding and Lukoil International Holding GMBH to acquire 100% of Fieldwood Mexico, subject to certain conditions being met, one of them being that all parties involved consent to the deal.

Fieldwood Mexico is the operator and owner of a 50% stake in the Ichalkil and Pokoch fields (Block 4) off the coast of Campeche, in the Gulf of Mexico. Since 2024, Zamajal, a member of Grupo Carso, has owned Petrobal Upstream Delta 1, which holds the remaining 50% in Block 4.

The acquisition must be approved by the Mexican government, including the National Antitrust Commission and the Ministry of Energy. Direct approval from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is also required.

TASS has sent a request to Lukoil.

The deal will not only allow Grupo Carso to gain control of the project but also confirm its commitment to Mexico's hydrocarbon production sector, the report states.

About project

In February 2022, Lukoil finalized a deal on the acquisition of a 50% stake in Block 4. The transaction was worth $435 million, plus actual expenses incurred from January 1, 2021, to the closing date, in the amount of $250 million. Production at the project commenced in the fourth quarter of 2021. Block 4 comprises two sections with a total area of 58 square kilometers offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, 42 kilometers from shore. It contains two oil fields—Ichalkil and Pokoch—with recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of 564 million barrels of oil equivalent, more than 80% of which is oil. Oil production on Block 4 is carried out under a production sharing agreement signed in 2016 for a period of 25 years, with the option to extend it for up to 10 years.

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