Total to start drilling deepwater oil well in Mexico block in October

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - French oil major Total will begin drilling its first deepwater exploration well at a block it operates in the Gulf of Mexico in October, according to a plan approved on Friday by Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH).

The four-year exploration plan for the block in the Perdido Fold Basin just south of the U.S.-Mexico maritime border calls for drilling either one or two exploration wells in the block between October and next March, according to the CNH.

U.S. major ExxonMobil is an equity partner in the Total-led consortium, which won the development rights to Block 2 in Mexico's first deepwater oil auction in late 2016.

The 1,149-square-mile (2,976-square-kilometer) block is believed to contain some 1.440 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in mostly light and extra light crude as well as natural gas, according to energy ministry data.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Sandra Maler)