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By Stefanie Eschenbacher and Adriana Barrera
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican billionaire investor Carlos Slim's team and state energy company Pemex are discussing substantial changes to a deal to develop the country's first deepwater natural gas field, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Slim's Mexican holding company Grupo Carso signed a deal last year to partner with Pemex to develop the Lakach field in the Gulf of Mexico, seeking to revive a project the state company had abandoned twice due to high costs.
Since then, Mexico's relationship with the U.S. has come under increased strain from U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs, mass deportations and military strikes on cartels.
In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's government has redoubled its efforts, which began under her predecessor during the first Trump presidency, to wean the country off gas imports from the United States.
Representatives of Pemex and Grupo Carso have discussed different schemes to make Lakach profitable, at a lower gas price than they had initially projected, the sources said.
Grupo Carso wants to add two nearby fields with similar expected resources, Piklis and Kunah, to increase the potential profitability of the venture, four of the sources said.
It was unclear how much the addition of the two fields, which two sources said was close to being finalized, would raise the price for an investment that sources said would earn Slim substantial political clout.
Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Slim declined to comment.
The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.
In recent years, Slim has been increasing his investments in the energy sector, with stakes in shallow-water fields Zama, Ichalkil and Pokoch.
Piklis and Kunah, each of which has two wells drilled, were declared strategic priorities by Sheinbaum's government last year as Pemex aims to increase overall gas production to 5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd), up from around 3.7 billion cfd.
Slim's team also floated the possibility of putting the venture on ice or pulling out, three sources said, in what one of them added was a negotiation strategy for a better deal.
Earlier development plans for the field were for a startup in 2026 and a relatively short production span of eight years, according to official records. That timeline looks unlikely, the sources said.
The field, located some 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the Gulf port of Veracruz, holds an estimated 900 billion cubic feet of gas.