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 Resources^1/ 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 2023, there is a record of 69 drilled exploration prospects, whose total mean Prospective Resources estimate was 6,121 MMboe, from which 28 new discoveries were made that incorporated 372 MMboe of new 3C Contingent Resources and 488 MMboe of 3P Reserves.
On the other hand by 2024, the volume of 3C Contingent Resources increased 6% compared to 2023. This because the volume of 17 new discoveries and the volume incorporation from reservoir level updates in 6 more fields.

In balance for 2023, 1.6% of the 3P Reserves (372 MMboe) were incorporated from new discoveries (1.6%) and by the reclassification of Contingent Resources to Reserves 700 MMboe were added, equivalent to 3% of the total 3P Reserves.

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.