Mexican billionaire Slim invests in Colombian oil industry

Mexico City, Feb 24 (IANs/EFE) Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso is acquiring a 70 percent stake in Tabasco Oil Company, which is involved in oil exploration and production in Colombia, the conglomerate said.

Grupo Carso, which has interests in a number of industrial and other businesses, reached an agreement to buy the stake in Tabasco Oil Company from Mexico’s Geoprocesados, the conglomerate said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

The stake in Tabasco Oil Company “marks the entry of Grupo Carso into a new business sector in Latin America”, the conglomerate said.

Tabasco Oil Company focuses on the exploration, production and marketing of oil in Latin America, where it currently has rights to explore and produce crude in Colombia’s section LLA 56, a project still in the exploration phase, Grupo Carso said.

Geoprocesados has been working as a contractor for state-owned Pemex Exploration and Production for 10 years, processing seismic information.

The company is responsible for quality control of seismic data obtained for all of Pemex’s onshore and offshore units.

Slim provides services to Pemex via his Sweecomex unit, which builds platforms for the Mexican state-owned oil giant.

Slim, who is ranked by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest person in the world, said Jan 31 that he planned to invest $8.3 billion in companies he owns in 19 countries.

“We are going to invest where we are behind and in the big countries, where more resources are needed, like Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile (and) Argentina,” Slim said.

–IANS/EFE