Mexico’s state energy company, Pemex, has partnered with Grupo Carso to resume the development of the Lakach natural gas project, reported Reuters.

Located 93km south-east of Veracruz and 131km north-west of Coatzacoalcos, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Lakach deep-water gas field has been shelved twice previously.

The collaboration will see Grupo Carso injecting more than $1.2bn to develop the project, and acting as the service provider.

Pemex will retain ownership of the Lakach field and its reserves. Grupo Carso's role will involve constructing an onshore facility.

Grupo Carso was cited by the news agency as saying in a statement that the onshore station will be equipped to “treat gas and condensates for disposal at sale conditions”. Production is expected to start in around two and a half years.

Carso, a company controlled by Mexican business investor Carlos Slim, plans to team up with a local unit of Spain’s Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and Talos Energy to develop the Lakach field, reported Bloomberg News.

In March 2024, Reuters reported Pemex was in talks with Slim’s group regarding the control and development of the Lakach field.

Discovered in 2007, the Lakach field is estimated to hold 900 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The collaboration comes after the previous partner, New Fortress Energy, exited the project in 2023 as the parties could not agree on terms including pricing.

Since then, Pemex has been scouting for a new partner for the field’s development.