Mexico Looks to Shale Energy Future and Adopts Chimera's Non-Fracking Technology

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Mexico, which wants to avoid becoming a net energy importer over the next 15 years, is looking to the exploitation of potential shale gas. Shale resources have been identified in northern areas of the country, stretching south along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The Eagle Ford resource extends along the Texas border in the Burro-Picachos, Burgos and Chihuahua fields and has estimated 27 trillion to 89 trillion cubic feet of potential reserves, with a median potential set at 55 trillion cubic feet.

To the south in the Chihuahua, Sabinas, Burgos and Tampico-Misantla fields are the La Casita-Pimienta resources, which contain oil and wet gas estimated at 54 trillion to 165 trillion cubic feet, with a median estimate of 1,209 trillion cubic feet.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates Mexico's hale reserves at 681 trillion cubic feet (19.3 trillion cubic meters), while the National Oil Company's production and exploration unit Pemex-Exploration and Production (PEP) estimated the technically recoverable range at 150 trillion to 459 trillion cubic feet, with a median estimate of 259 trillion cubic feet.

In order to confirm these reserves, PEP plans to build field laboratories in the Burro-Picachos and Burgos fields and go into partnership with five companies that have experience in shale exploration. The companies are now being selected.

PEP reports that shale resources are 60.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 53% of which is liquid hydrocarbon and 47% gas. Jose Antonio Escalera Alcocer, who works in exploration at PEP, said that as the national petroleum company state-owned Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) continues to define shale resources, there will be a need to invest $6 billion to $10 billion annually. He said that shale production has the potential to be a transformative force for Pemex.

"Shale has very attractive potential that could change the course of hydrocarbon production in Mexico in the medium term," Alcocer said. "If the potential is proven, in three to four years, Pemex will look very different." The aim is to start production in shale fields by late 2013 or early 2014.

A new dimension in Mexico's shale scenario was signaled last week by the signing by Pemex and Chimera Energy Corporation (OTC:CHMR) (Houston, Texas) of a document to utilize Chimera's new non-hydraulic shale oil extraction system on central Tajin area wells numbers 4, 5 and 6 in Mexico's Chicontepic Basin. The system is said to be "revolutionary" and is designed to extract shale oil safely and economically and replace fracking (hydraulic fracturing) without negative environmental impacts. The new process does not use steam, LPG gel, natural gas or the pumping of hot material into the well.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.