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Pemex revises reserve figures
El Universal (MEXICO)
MEXICO CITY
Petroleumworld.com 03 28 07The nation has proven reserves of 15.51 billion barrels of oil equivalent, enough to meet demand into 2016, state-run petroleum giant Pemex said Monday.
The proven reserves are 955 million barrels less than reported in 2005.The new figure supposes "that over time there will be no new discoveries nor reclassifications of reserves, and is consequently a conservative indicator and only projects their evolution under current conditions," the deputy director of planning and evaluation of Pemex Exploration and Production, Vinicio Suro, said during a conference call.
Mexico´s proven and probable reserves totaled 30.77 billion barrels and will be sufficient for 19 years, while the proven, probable and possible reserves are 45.38 billion barrels, enough to meet demand for 28 years, he said.
Of total proven reserves, 69 percent are developed, which means they are resources that Pemex expects to recover with current infrastructure from existing wells, most of which are located in offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
The remaining 31 percent are "undeveloped," volumes that the oil company hopes to produce by drilling new wells in the future, also mainly concentrated in the Gulf.
The executive said that for the 2007-2012 period, Pemex estimates that an average annual investment of at least $2 billion in exploration will allow the company to reach its goal of restoring proven reserves up to 77 percent. They currently stand at 41 percent.
NATURAL GAS
Of proven reserves, 71 percent are crude oil, 12 percent condensed and liquid derivatives, and the remaining 17 percent natural gas.
Pemex, the third-biggest oil supplier to the U.S., may begin production by 2013 or 2014 at the natural-gas field Lakach in the Gulf of Mexico.
Production at Lakach, discovered last year in waters almost a kilometer deep, will take longer than at Pemex´s shallow-water fields, which require two to three years before they deliver gas, Suro said Monday.
"This is simply because of the technologies required and the conditions where this discovery is located,´´ said Suro.
Mexico´s state-owned oil monopoly began exploring for deepwater oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 in response to the decline in production of its offshore field Cantarell, the world´s third largest. Ghawar in Saudi Arabia is the world´s largest oil field, followed by Burgan in Kuwait.
Output at Cantarell declined 12 percent in 2006, and Pemex has forecast Cantarell´s production will fall 15 percent this year. Cantarell´s wells are found at an average depth of 60 meters.
A well is considered deepwater when it is in depths of more than 500 meters.
Pemex has said Lakach contains natural gas equivalent to 200 million barrels of crude oil.
CHICONTEPEC
Pemex also plans to increase drilling in Chicontepec, a field located across four southern states characterized by small pockets of oil that require thousands of wells to exploit. Last month, Pemex said it plans to increase the number of wells it drills there to 1,000 per year from about 200 annually.
In 2002, Pemex revised down its proven oil and gas reserves retroactive to 1998 mostly because of inactivity in Chicontepec.
Pemex´s proven oil and gas reserves were reduced to 21.9 billion barrels of equivalent oil at the end of 2001 to meet U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines.
El Universal 27 03 07
Copyright© 2007 El Universal. All Rights Reserved.
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