Mexico’s state-owned Pemex has filed the development plan for the unitised Zama giant oilfield offshore Mexico to industry regulator the National Commission of Hydrocarbons (CNH) for approval.

Zama was discovered by Talos Energy in 2017 on offshore Block 7 and the field was fully appraised in 2019 by the Block 7 consortium, which includes Talos, Wintershall Dea and Harbour Energy.

Pemex had already drilled a well on a neighbouring block — with the reservoirs proving to be contiguous — and it subsequently forced though a claim to take over operatorship and pursue unitisation, which Talos ultimately accepted rather than carrying out its threat to move to arbitration.