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Carlos Slim's Grupo Carso to Buy TotalEnergies Stake in Gulf of Mexico Block

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Carlos Slim's Grupo Carso has agreed to acquire France's TotalEnergies' (TTE) 30% stake in the EP Mexico Block 30 offshore field in the Gulf of Mexico, expanding the Mexican conglomerate's growing portfolio of oil and gas assets.

The acquisition, announced in a securities filing on Thursday, will be carried out through a Grupo Carso subsidiary. UK-based Harbour Energy will retain its 70% interest in the block and continue as operator.

The deal marks the latest step in 86-year-old billionaire Carlos Slim's strategy to build a larger presence in the segments of Mexico's energy sector open to private investment, even as state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos seeks private partners to reverse declining crude production and strengthen its finances.

Slim said earlier this year that his companies would not pursue new joint ventures with Pemex, despite the state producer's efforts to attract outside investment, Bloomberg reported.

Grupo Carso has steadily expanded its energy holdings over the past two years. In January, the company completed the acquisition of Fieldwood Energy's Mexican business from Russia's Lukoil, securing full ownership of two producing Gulf of Mexico fields.

Last year, Carso also won a contract valued at about $2 billion from Pemex to drill over 30 wells in the Ixachi oil and gas field. Slim has said the project could nearly double crude production at Ixachi to around 200,000 barrels per day within three years.

The group's acquisitions, including stakes in Talos Energy (TALO) and US-based refiner PBF Energy (PBF), have made Grupo Carso Pemex's largest private-sector partner.

Slim said earlier this month that Mexico's oil and gas production could increase to as much as 2.5 million barrels per day with greater private-sector participation. Pemex produced 1.65 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensates as of the end of April.

Price: $80.56, Change: $+1.74, Percent Change: +2.21%

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