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Productivity Through Family Expertise

Francisco Cazares - Repstim
Director General

STORY INLINE POST

Pedro Alcalá By Pedro Alcalá | Senior Journalist & Industry Analyst - Tue, 07/07/2020 - 11:15

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Q: What would you consider to be the most important advances in Repstim’s history?

A: Grupo SEPAFF was founded in 2015 and at that time my two sons and I were aware of the general direction that projects in Mexico’s energy industry were taking. They are both engineers who were working for international companies while I worked as an engineer for PEMEX until August 2014. In 2017, Grupo SEPAFF had begun attending operators who had won Energy Reform-era bidding rounds. During that time, we formed a partnership with engineer Juan Abraham Cruz so that we could add his expertise in technological developments. This is what led to the founding of Repstim. Sometime later, Repstim began to specialize in providing solutions for marginal and mature fields. In these fields, the lack of pressure and other inadequate reservoir conditions made standard production models unfeasible. Maintaining production volumes in these fields is an important technological challenge.

We specialize in the engineering, design and implementation not only of artificial lift systems, but also of production models and systems that can remediate the damage that traditional production techniques might have caused to a well, field or reservoir, usually through the accumulation, sedimentation and even incrustation of organic or inorganic matter. Our vision is to design tailored solutions for these assets and we do this through our laboratory facilities, which have received the ISO 17025 certification by the EMA. It is important to understand that these are low-pressure wells with low production levels. By way of comparison, the Ixachi field can reach production levels of 7,500b/d, while the wells that we are talking about can produce between 30b/d and 200b/d. This is why our clients that operate these fields might not be able to recoup their investments through traditional methods. The profitability factor might prove insufficient even under the conditions stipulated by the field development plans in their contracts with CNH. We strive to offer continuous improvement for our clients in all the services we offer.

Q: How is your project portfolio distributed between PEMEX and the private sector?

A: All of our services are offered to clients outside of PEMEX, but obviously our clients are connected to PEMEX though the royalties they deliver from their fields and through the commercialization of their crude, which is still done through PEMEX. We have offered our services and technologies to PEMEX and we have tested the well stimulation systems in some of their fields, such as Cinco Presidentes and Rabasa.

Historically, productive onshore fields tend to be divided in two large blocks: shallow, which are usually drilled to Tertiary depths, and deep, which are usually drilled to Mesozoic depths. The deep blocks are usually composed of fractured limestone formations, so the use of acid systems is more common, as long as the well’s fluids are properly tested and their quality controlled. The shallow blocks, on the other hand, are sand-based formations, which means that their cementing materials are much more soluble in HCL, so other systems need to be used, such as hydrofluoric acid systems. However, the use of acids in these formations tends to be avoided, which is why our job is to offer an alternative technology as a solution. Stimulation systems were historically not used by PEMEX in these shallow formations because they created more problems than they solved. We are also observing opportunities in the well cementing, fluid control and directional drilling segments.

We offer technical support services and well construction advisory in production assets such as Cantarell, KMZ, Abkatun Pol-chuc and Litoral de Tabasco. It is important to mention the benefits of projects like these, such as the optimization of time frames and operations, which help our clients meet their production goals.

Q: How have your services and technologies helped increase productivity and operational efficiency in the private sector?

A: Last year, we restored and increased a well’s productivity levels to 900b/d. The final results will depend on the reach of our solution, which is tied to the capabilities and status of the project. For example, in some cases, closing down a well might be the most favorable option. The services we offer were enough to guarantee contracts for us in 2019 as well as 2020 and we hope to continue this success, despite the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our vision of the national energy market is to contribute through our technologies and to achieve production goals both in mature fields as well as new developments. We are also expanding our services to include well cementing in geothermal fields.

 

Repstim is a Mexican upstream service provider focused on well interventions, stimulations, chemical cleaning and well cementing services. These include laboratory services for the analysis and breakdown of well samples.

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