Mexico's Pemex plans to reopen wells to boost declining production, documents and sources show
MEXICO CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - Mexican state energy company Pemex plans to reopen old wells in a bid to squeeze more barrels out of them to boost declining production, according to two documents and four sources, as it struggles to reach an ambitious government target.
Pemex said in a recent filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects production to fall to 1.58 million barrels per day (bpd) this year rather than the 1.8 million bpd officials have consistently touted.
Angel Cid Munguia, the new head of the company's exploration and production arm, wrote in an internal document, dated May 6, that it was advancing with the "reactivation of closed wells" though did not elaborate on the number.
The specifics would depend on both the risk profiles of the thousands of wells across the country both onshore and offshore, and which ones could ramp up production fastest, four sources familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mexico has more than 31,000 wells both onshore and offshore, and about a third of them are closed, data shared with Reuters showed. More than 4,800 wells are considered to be "operational" for hydrocarbon production.
The reactivation depends on geological information, funding, well mechanics, and the recovery factor of each well, said one of the sources, who has studied closed wells in detail.
The documents lacked detail on what exact technology would be used to reactivate old wells but companies operating in other mature fields around the globe have used specialized expensive equipment to keep bringing hydrocarbon products to the surface even as production slows.
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