PEMEX to Invest US$13.60 Billion in Pit Field

CNH approved PEMEX’s development plan for the Pit field in Campeche. The NOC’s subsidiary, PEMEX Exploration and Production (PEP), will invest US$13.602 billion for the project.

The Pit field was assigned in 2019 under the title AE-0165-M-Campeche Oriente and is located south from Ku-Maloob-Zaap. The field was supposed to be granted during the public bidding rounds along with other fields. However, as these got canceled, the administration included them in the NOC’s proprietary fields.

The plan considers 40 years, with a production date starting in 2025. PEMEX aims to retrieve 2P reserves of 459.23MMb API 10.8° and 56.62Bcf of gas. The plan considers 26 drillings and terminations, the construction of five pipelines, five major repairs and 707 minor ones. After the crude oil extraction, a dilution process will be carried out with light oil for delivery to the Zaap-C processing plant.

PEMEX’s plan forecasts a final hydrocarbon recovery factor of 16.43% in oil and gas at the Pit field, with a maximum production of 88MMb/d and 10MMcf/d in 2030. Of the total investment, the NOC plans to allocate US$3.44 billion to investment, US$10.163 billion to operational expenses and US$491.56 million to other expenses.

While López Obrador has faced criticism over his energy policy, Mexico was congratulated by Haitham al-Ghais, Secretary General, OPEC, when he visited the country early March. He said that Mexico is key in the global scenario, especially with its increased refining capacity with the construction of the Olmeca refinery.

Al-Ghais has addressed the need to secure the energy supply for the next decade. He emphasized the importance of investment in oil to meet future energy needs, while also calling for climate policies to be balanced and fair.

Although the NOC committed to reaching production of 2MMb/d, reports from January 2023 and December 2022 of 1.564MMb/d stand at one of the lowest production points since 2019 when the company produced 1.607MMb/d.