MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil firm

Pemex has agreed to hand over control of its Lakach natural gas

project in the Gulf of Mexico to Grupo Carso, a company

belonging to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, El Heraldo

columnist Dario Celis reported on Thursday.

Celis did not cite sources for the information and neither

Pemex nor Slim's team immediately responded to requests for

comment.

Two sources told Reuters last month that Pemex and Slim's

team were in talks over reviving the development of the Lakach

field, the Latin American country's first deepwater natural gas

field, a plan that has been shelved twice before.

The sources said Pemex considered finding a new partner a

top priority to boost the field, hailed as a potential gateway

to a new deepwater Mexican gas frontier, after U.S. liquefied

natural gas company New Fortress Energy ( NFE ) pulled out last year.