Contingent Resources
Contingent Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations by application of development projects but which are not currently considered to be commercially recoverable owing to one or more contingencies.
Under the Regulation on Prospective and Contingent Resources5/ issued by the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), it tracks the country’s Hydrocarbon Resources from their evaluation and quantification as Prospective Resources to their incorporation as Reserves. During 2022, there is a record of 41 drilled exploration prospects, whose total mean Prospective Resources estimate was 2,367 MMboe, from which 22 new discoveries were made that incorporated 84 MMboe of new 3C Contingent Resources and 359 MMboe of 3P Reserves.
On the other hand by 2023, the volume of 3C Contingent Resources was reduced by almost a third compared to 2022. This because 72% of the volume of 3C Contingent Resources associated with 22 fields was reclassified as 3P Reserves.
In balance for 2023, 9.1% of the 3P Reserves (2,093 MMboe) were incorporated from new discoveries (1.6%) and by the reclassification of Contingent Resources to Reserves (7.5%), which is equivalent to reincorporate Reserves for the double of the total production reported in 2022.
PRMS Contingent Resources Classification
For the exercise of CNH duties regarding the classification of Contingent Resources estimates, the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) is adopted, in
its current English version, as the reference system.
This classification system defines subclasses for Contingent Resources, which are related to the maturity level of the projects and the business decisions to be
implemented, positioning the project's status in the value chain.
Development pending: A discovered accumulation where project activities are ongoing to justify commercial development in the foreseeable future.
Development on hold: A discovered accumulation where project activities are on hold and where justification as a commercial development may be subject
to significant delay.
Development unclarified: A discovered accumulation where project activities are under evaluation and where justification as a commercial development is unknown
based on available information.
Development not viable: A discovered accumulation for which there are no current plans to develop or to acquire additional data at the time because of
limited commercial potential.
Notes:
1/ Total Prospective Resources forecasts based on the ultimate estimation reported by Operators (mean values or best estimate), under CNH Regulation on Prospective and Contingent Resources.
2/ Discovered Volume reported as Contingent Resources or Reserves, from exploration drilling during 2022.
3/ Contingent Resources as of September 2022.
4/ Hidrocarbons’ Reserves as of January 1st, 2023.
5/ According to CNH Regulation on Prospective and Contingent Resources, the Contingent Resources Report provided by the Operators is informative and does not involve auditing or validation by an
Independent Third Party (Reserves Evaluators) https://cnh.gob.mx/media/16413/lineamientos-de-recursos-prospectivos-y-contingentes.pdf.
Source: CNH