The Chicontepec Basin is a petroleum system in Mexico located north-east of Mexico City, covering an area of around 3,800 sq km in the states of Veracruz, Puebla and Hidalgo. Several oil fields have been discovered in that area since 1926. A major field was discovered in 1973 but contains extra heavy crude which due to special refining needs is considered unviable at this time.

Chicontepec Basin is believed to hold 33 billion barrels of oil in place, with 17.6 billion barrels recoverable. These are probable, but not proved reserves. In 2003, PEMEX said it could take total investment of peso|$" target="_blank" >^*30 billion over 15 years to fully develop Mexico's oil and gas reserves in the Chicontepec Basin. The project would require drilling 13,500 wells in the basin.

In March 2006, Mexican President Vicente Fox announced that Pemex would be investing $37.5 billion US dollars over the next 20 years on the oil fields of Chicontepec. It is hoped that this will boost the fields' output to 1 million barrels per day. Pemex's chief executive estimates that 20,000 wells are to be drilled in order to exploit this field. Article

Oil fields in Mexico