PEMEX to Invest US$3 Billion in Quesqui Field

PEMEX is planning to invest US$3.14 billion in 2023 and 2024 to further develop its shallow water gas Quesqui field on the coast of Tabasco. 

The National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) approved the plan with three votes in favor and one against. Alma América Porres, the Commissioner who voted against the project, said that the recovery plan was inappropriate for a gas and condensate field with Quesqui’s specifications and expressed her concerns about gas flaring at the site. 

Nonetheless, the NOC said that the plan will notably increase production in the area starting next year from 400MMcf/d to 1Bf3/d and condensate from 136,000boe/d to 250,000boe/d. This goal would be achieved by drilling 18 production wells to extract 390Mb of condensate and 2.2Tcf of natural gas in total. The state-owned company also aims to end gas flaring at the field, which is currently done at a rate of 5Mcf/d. 

In addition, during the session with the regulator, Jaguar Exploración y Producción also got its permit to invest between US$33 million and US$71 million to explore its VC-02 natural gas contract in Veracruz. 

Last month, PEMEX’s division for Exploration and Production (PEP) foresaw that by the end of 2022, Quesqui would be producing 250Mb/d of crude oil, roughly double what is being produced today.

Moreover, it is expected that gas production will reach 500MMcf/d. PEMEX CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza recently visited the field and highlighted that Quesqui is the most important field among PEMEX’s new developments, of which there are 40. “The results are very good and I have no doubt that we will accomplish the objectives we have set,” he said.

Ángel Cid Mungía, Director, PEMEX Exploration and Production (E&P), explained that Quesqui has 14 existing wells ready and that by the end of the year, 11 more wells will be drilled, while by the end of 2023 the NOC aims to include 10 additional wells. 

Victor Gerardo Vallejo, Deputy Director of Strategic Production Projects, PEMEX E&P, said that the company adopted a different strategy based on the link-up between planning, engineering, design and execution, as this approach has yielded good results by decreasing the drilling time of wells.

Previously, CNH had denied PEMEX’s development plan due to vague technical factors in the chosen development method, which led to elevated risks. Moreover, the commission said that PEMEX had previously requested to modify the assignation of the production area. Further issues included that the NOC experienced delays, in addition to presenting inconsistencies in information regarding investment, production and oil reserves, showing a lack of quality control in the delivered documents.