Mexico's Carlos Slim increases stake in key oil player Talos Energy

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has increased his stake in Houston-based Talos Energy, a part-owner of one of Mexico's most promising oil fields, to 23.8%.

The Slim family office has been steadily increasing its stake in Talos Energy since the beginning of the year. At the end of 2023, the Slim family held 12.2% of the company's shares, according to Talos' annual report.

Talos Mexico, the company's Mexican unit, has a 17.4% interest in the Zama field in shallow waters off the coast of Tabasco state in southeastern Mexico.

Zama contains an estimated 750Mboe (million barrels of oil equivalent). At peak production of 180,000b/d, it will produce about 10% of Mexico's total oil output.

Slim is a major supporter of the Mexican government's policies of energy nationalism. In 2023, his Grupo Carso conglomerate acquired a 49.9% stake in Talos Mexico for US$125mn. 

From August 9 to September 5, 2024, Slim's family office paid around US$30mn to increase its stake in Talos Energy.

Tim Duncan, founder and CEO of Talos Energy, resigned at the end of August without providing a reason for his departure.

In 2017, Talos Energy became the first private company this century to find an oil field in Mexico when it discovered Zama.

Mexico's ministry of energy Sener controversially transferred operatorship of the field to national oil company Pemex in 2022. The other partner in the field is UK-based Harbour Energy with a 32% stake.

French engineering company Doris is carrying out the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work to develop Zama. Development of the field will include two offshore platforms, 68km of pipelines and cables and a new onshore facility in the Dos Bocas Maritime Terminal, in Paraiso, Tabasco.