Page 69: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Aug/Sep 2013)

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Latin America

Pemex Exploration and Production has recently drilled three successful wells testing the

Mexico’s deepwater Perdido Fold Belt, but questions remain about the NOC’s timing to develop the offshore discoveries.

deep water

By Nina Rach exico’s earliest deepwater exploration was in 2003, when the Chuktah-201

M well was completed in water 513m deep, followed by the Nab-1 well in 2004 at a water depth of 681m. Chuktah-201 was a dry hole, and Nab-1 had non-commercial quantities of oil, but finding oil in deep water has become a priority for Pemex.

The company has acquired 90,000 GVA 7500-design semisub capable of sq km of offshore 3D seismic data drilling in water to 10,000 ft (3,048 m) from 2002-2011. There are currently and 40,000ft TD. This sixth generation fve semisubmersibles at work in deep MODU, Bicentenario, was delivered in water off Mexico, among the 80 off- February 2010 and arrived in Mexico shore drilling rigs. in May 2011.

In August 2008, IPC contracted with DSME to build a sister ship, La

Reserves, budget

In 2006, Pemex drilled the Lakach-1 Muralla IV, delivered in October 2012. well, a large natural gas discovery Grupo R Perforación Marina oper- with 2P reserves of 0.9 Tcf. Pemex says ates La Muralla IV and began drilling reserves could be as large as 1.4 Tcf, the Piklis-1DL well in water 6053ft including satellite felds: Ahawbil, (1783m) deep, on 9 April 2013.

Labay, Piklis, and Kuyah. Pemex Concurrently, Grupo R launched Felipe Calderón Hinojosa said it could estimates 3P reserves at Piklis feld, Nautilus IV, the frst phase of its new produce “4 to 10 billion bbl of oil” and discovered in May 2011, at 0.8 Bcf. ROV initiative, on the La Muralla IV. allow Mexico to “increase oil produc-

Between 2007 and 2010, Pemex A sister company of IPC, Grupo R tion in the medium and long term.” spent about US$1.8 billion on deep- Exploración Marina, S.A. (GREMSA), In October 2012, Pemex reported water exploration, representing about operates a third semisub, Centenario discovering light oil in the Supremus-1 24% of the overall exploration budget. GR. This MODU is Friede & Goldman well, the second Perdido well, in

The deepwater exploration budget in ExD Millennium design, capable of 9515ft (2890m) water depth. Calderon 2011 was $1.14 billion, dropping to reaching a total depth of 40,000 ft. It announced that the feld probably holds $1.07 billion in 2012. was delivered from the Jurong ship- between 75 and 125 million bbl of oil.

The 2012-2013 work includes three yard in Singapore in 2010 and is work- After drilling the Trion-1 and deepwater wells in the Perdido basin. ing under a 5-year drilling services Supremus-1 discoveries, Pemex esti-

This area is about 200 miles (320 km) contract for Pemex E&P that started in mated 10 billion bbl of untapped crude off the Texas coast and stretches across September 2010. GREMSA is the frst oil in the Mexican sector of Perdido.

the US-Mexican maritime border. wholly-Mexican company to provide The third Perdido well was the deepwater drilling services in Mexico. Maximino-1 wildcat, in the deep-

Two other semisubs currently work- est water yet, 9570ft (2933m). It was

Deepwater rigs

Mexico City-based Industrial Perfora- ing off Mexico are Diamond Offshore described in 2011 as “the jewel in the dora de Campeche SA (IPC) has been Drilling Inc.’s Ocean Yorktown, third- crown of our deepwater projects” by working in Mexico’s oil industry since generation MODU capable of drilling in Jose Antonio Escalera, deputy director 1985 and runs its maritime operations 2850-ft water depth; and Seadrill Ltd.’s for technical exploration at Pemex.

from two shore bases: one in Veracruz West Pegasus, a sixth-generation MODU On 16 May 2013, Pemex announced and the other in the port of Laguna capable of drilling in 10,000-ft water. that they were testing light crude in the

Azul, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche.  Maximino well.

In June 2007, IPC signed a 5-year Pemex E&P director Carlos Morales

Drilling contract with Pemex E&P for a semi- Pemex drilled the Trión-1 well, 180km Gil said the company is considering submersible drilling unit, which off the coast of Tamaulipas, the frst of a standalone spar or FPSO to develop began running in late 2010. In July three wells in Mexico’s Perdido Fold Trión and other discoveries in deep 2007, IPC commissioned Daewoo Belt. The well made a commercial water. In June 2013, Pemex awarded an

Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering discovery of light crude, announced $84 million contract to GE for subsea

Co. (DSME) to build a Gotaverken in August 2012. Mexican President wellheads. oedigital.com August 2013 | OE 71 071_OE0813_geo_mexico.indd 71 7/22/13 5:05 PM