Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso SAB said Tuesday that it has reached agreement to buy a 70% stake in Tabasco Oil Company LLC, marking the entry of billionaire Carlos Slim into the upstream oil business.
In a filing with the Mexican stock exchange, Carso said the Tabasco Oil Co., or TOC, is owned by Mexican company Geoprocesados SA, and has a concession to explore and produce oil in Colombia’s LLA 56 sector, which is currently in the exploration phase.
It will be the first time that retail and industrial group Carso, which recently spun off its mining and real estate businesses, will be involved in oil production. A unit of Carso has built oil platforms for Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, although in Mexico the only private involvement in upstream oil and gas production is under contract to Pemex.
Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.
Slim announced his interest in boosting investing in Colombia’s oil industry earlier this month.
(Anthony Harrup / Dow Jones Newswires)
