PEMEX Boasts a World Record-Worthy Drilling Feat

PEMEX CEO Ocatavio Romero took to social media to document an ongoing drilling operation stretching across an unprecedented distance of 2.1km. Romero explained that the horizontal drilling program is laying the preparations for a 24-inch oil pipeline that is to be installed in the shallow waters off the coast of Campeche, facilitating the subterranean transport of 30Mb/d of oil and connecting three offshore wells with the onshore Rabasa Separation Battery. 

The pipeline will be installed at depths of around 25m and has been specifically designed to mitigate environmental damage and habitat disruption in an area marked by mangrove swamps. The neighboring ecoregion is one of Mexico’s most biodiverse, supporting an estimated 90 endangered species and receiving a third of all wintering birds migrating south across the Gulf of Mexico on the Mississippi Flyway.

Commenting via video from a helicopter flying over the area, Romero explained “We have achieved directional drilling across 2.1km. Such a feat has not been achieved anywhere else in the world. It is very important we carry out such work to protect the environment and we are documenting our efforts for Guinness [World Records], since we believe it is a world record."

The Rabasa battery is projected to be one of the most important in the country by the year 2024, as Mexico depends ever more on the production from new fields such as the three served by Rabasa: Octli, Cahua and Teca. Collectively, these three news fields, which fall under Assignation AE-009-5M-Tucoo-Xacamani-01, will contribute 30Mb/d and belong to the 26 designated  priority fields, which form an integral part of the government's strategy to achieve energy sovereignty by the end of the current administration in 2024. As part of this commitment, PEMEX is expected to drill a further 78 wells by the end of 2022. 

Once the hydrocarbons are extracted and pumped to Rebasa, they will then be sent to the La Venta Gas Compression Station to remove water and sediments. In June 2022, PEMEX initiated a bidding process with the goal of improving infrastructure at Rebasa, as the site is set to become one of the country’s most important oil and gas complexes, tripling production by 2024. National public bid PEP-CAT-O-GCSEYP-085-94357-22-1 seeks to contract a company to provide engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning services to support second-stage infrastructure works to improve the management of marine production at the battery, which is located on the old Agua Dulce-Coatzacoalcos highway.