Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 35 2021

LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

Pemex reportedly using nitrogen

to raise yields at Ku-Maloob-Zaap

MEXICO’S national oil company (NOC) of roughly 25%. Octavio Romero Oropeza, the
Pemex is reportedly injecting nitrogen into wells CEO of Pemex, said on August 24 that the com-
at the offshore Ku-Maloob-Zaap offshore block pany had already restored about one sixth of its
in a bid to reverse the production declines that suspended capacity, or around 70,000 bpd.
followed an explosion at the E-Ku-A2 platform The NOC is keen to push production levels
last month. back up so that Mexico can meet a target set by
Sources with knowledge of the situation told President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Bloomberg last week that Pemex had taken this The populist leader said last month that he
step in the hope of pushing output levels back up expects the country to extract 1.8mn bpd of oil
quickly. The NOC is under to pressure to bring on average this year, up from about 1.74mn bpd
yields back up to previous levels by September 6, in 2020. ™
and it sees nitrogen injection as the easiest way
to achieve this goal under the circumstances,
they said. It does not have the option of inject-
ing gas into the fields, since local gas production
facilities were knocked out in the fire that broke
out on August 22, they added.
One of the sources pointed out that the use
of nitrogen injection to raise reservoir pressures
might cause problems at Ku-Maloob-Zaap in
the future. This practice tends to push crude oil
into pockets within reservoirs, and it can make
exploration and production operations harder
and more costly, he explained.
Bloomberg noted that Pemex had reasons to
be cautious about using nitrogen to raise reser-
voir pressures. The NOC engaged in this prac-
tice at the Cantarell oilfield in the early 2000s,
the news agency noted, and some observers have
speculated that nitrogen injection is to blame for
the rapid decline in the site’s output levels.
As of press time, Pemex had not commented
publicly on the matter.
The explosion at E-KU-A2 hit Mexico’s larg-
est source of oil and brought the country’s crude
output down by 421,000 barrels per day, a drop The August 22 incident cut Pemex’s output by about 421,000 bpd (Image: Pemex)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Energy Ministry not sure if Trinidad and

Tobago can reverse decline in LNG output

THE Energy Ministry of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago to gain access to new pro-
has indicated that it is not certain whether the duction streams, as several new natural gas fields
country can reverse the decline in its LNG out- will come online by the end of 2023. But they
put over the next few years. also said the country would have to do more to
In response to questions from Argus Media, push yields back up at Atlantic LNG, the coun-
ministry representatives said they did expect try’s only large-scale gas liquefaction plant.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 02•September•2021