International oil companies (IOCs) and national oil companies have always had different agendas. The former are all about shareholder value, while the latter have to keep their countries’ interests and welfare in mind.

But sometimes those lines start to blur, and Mexico is a good case in point. While PEMEX partnered with IOCs for years, it was always the sole keeper of the family farm, so to speak, and it became obvious a few years ago that a single company couldn’t keep up with the riches that were gifted upon the country. So in 2013 the country began investigating a resolve to change that business structure.

And it’s paid off. Talos Energy recently announced a discovery at the Zama Block in the Sureste Basin, Mexico’s main producing area. Partners include Premier Oil and Sierra Oil and Gas. Premier estimates that the field contains up to 500 MMbbl.

Premier reported that there is “room to grow” in the area. According to a press release, the company plans to participate in this year’s License 2.1, which includes the blocks surrounding the discovery.

Talos told E&P earlier this year that it liked the setup of the Miocene-aged traps and their response to the geophysics. “It’s similar to how we have built companies on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico [GoM] side,” said Talos CEO and President Tim Duncan.

The ability to shoot new seismic has been part of the answer. When the initial Mexico license rounds were announced, data rooms consisted of legacy seismic data that were years old. But once those regulatory fetters were lifted, the geophysical contracting industry lost no time covering the area in new high-tech surveys.

ION Geophysical, for instance, noted in a press statement that it had “collaborated closely” with Talos to reprocess and reimage data over its blocks in the GoM—“one of the most complex oil and gas provinces” requiring advanced seismic techniques to understand the geology. Talos, in return, noted that its confidence in these new imaging techniques provided “significant uplift” of prospects like Zama.

The picture on the front of this month’s issue (see below) looks like a rock outcrop but is actually a seismic image of the Flemish Pass region offshore Newfoundland using new imaging techniques. Many countries will benefit from the advances that have been made in imaging techniques as their doors open to new opportunities.

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