MEXICO CITY, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The impact of Mexico's Energy Reform, which controversially allowed private and foreign energy companies to enter the country's nationalized oil industry, was felt on Wednesday as Mexico announced the first oil well was being drilled by a private consortium.
Premier Oil, Talos Energy and Sierra Oil & Gas de Mexico began drilling the Zama-1SON well, the first exploratory well to be drilled privately since the Energy Reform began in 2014, official sources revealed.
In a statement, Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) said the well was being drilled since Sunday in shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico's Sureste Basin. The CNH said it is hoped the well will yield light oil with 27 API degrees.
The well was dug vertically until a total depth of approximately 4,400 meters below sea level, with the drilling costing around 66 million U.S. dollars.
The consortium will pay the Mexican government 55.99 percent of its profits from the well.
The Energy Reform was seen as controversial among the Mexican public but the government said it was needed to increase the country's oil and gas production capacity.
