Tech-focused Knowledge Delivered Direct to PEMEX

Q: How has your relationship with PEMEX developed in the last year?

A: We are working to grow PEMEX’s business in the area of exploration, reservoir characterization, field development and secondary recovery for production. We have focused on knowledge transfer of our methodologies for application on new fields and to achieve the necessary level of production in the strategic fields once they are up and running. Improving the training and knowledge of Mexican workers has been our principal objective since last year. 

As a company, Beicip-Franlab is promoting with migrating its service to the cloud, as additional option to our technology access, which we are also introducing to PEMEX so that people offsite or on PEMEX installations can access our technologies and obtain help from our consultants around the world.  We are also working to deliver this same cloud option to our clients globally.

Q: How is Beicip-Franlab helping improve technology and software knowledge within PEMEX’s ranks?

A: Our strategy focuses not only on technologies but also on helping PEMEX improve its working methodologies. The experience of our consultants in Mexico and France support PEMEX’s decision-making related to its most important areas inside exploration, exploitation, and field development. Beicip-Franlab is working on new strategies to improve processes during projects execution incorporating knowledge transfer of our methodologies and Software technology use within PEMEX projects development, with the objective to improve its workflows, increase professional development and better develop its fields.

Throughout this year, we have held remote training sessions with the NOC to train personnel in our workflow methodologies aligned with the technology. This has included consultants with high level professional experiences in different areas of technical specialties from France and Mexico to guarantee the integration and adapt our methodologies and technologies to PEMEX workflows.  

Q: How has Beicip-Franlab implemented its DionisosFlow and CougarFlow programs from the new OpenFlow Suite 2020 for use with the NOC?

A: We are promoting two of our software programs, DionisosFlow and CougarFlow, for use in the areas of exploration and reservoir characterization. DionisosFlow this year offers a selection of improvements that support a wider variety of exploration needs. This includes improvements within the technology itself. We originally worked in regional models to help companies reduce exploration risk through predicting stratigraphy at regional scale, today with DionisosFlow we are also helping   to reconstructs facies architecture through geological time at basin or appraisal scale while honoring sequence stratigraphy models based on core, well logs and seismic data, aiming at de-risking exploration by predicting stratigraphy and facies architecture in unexplored areas. Nevertheless, these new additions allow users to work in regional or reservoir sizes. This delivers more power for development projects. To do this, we take small samples of data from neighboring fields to predict the stratigraphic modeling and define the architecture of the facies. We have provided the new version to PEMEX so that the methodology can be implemented in the areas that PEMEX has not worked in before. We are training personnel in this methodology so that models will be strong and the new fields that PEMEX wants to move into will offer less risk.

CougarFlow also helps with risk and sensitivity analysis for Stratigraphic Modeling and Regional Petroleum System Modeling. Also, CougarFlow aids users by integrating the whole set of uncertainties related to a reservoir study from geological to engineering or even economical parameters into a complete risk analysis and optimization workflow, providing with a better grasp of the key influential parameters of a reservoir study and allows for safer decision making at every stage of the field development. It also links with DionisosFlow to run a variety of stratigraphic modeling scenarios with different parameters to review risk in separate scenarios.

Q: What other software programs are part of your knowledge transfer role with PEMEX?

A: Another software package within the OpenFlow Suite 2020 is KronosFlow. This is an ideal tool to efficiently produce 2D kinematic scenarios for petroleum system assessment in structurally complex areas and for reconstructing complex basin models.

InterWell is another program focused on the seismic inversion and reservoir characterization to solve challenges for regional exploration to reservoir development scale. As with DionisisFlow and CougarFlow, we are training PEMEX staff on seismic inversion and InterWell workflows. There are multiple methodologies for obtaining seismic inversion and each one has a specific use in different scenarios. The needs of the field dictate the methodology to be used.

Like the other programs, InterWell has an easy-to-use interface that helps clients achieve their goals more quickly. It is ideal for both new entrants into the industry and more experienced technicians who want to move through analysis stages more quickly.

Q: How have PEMEX personnel adapted to the introduction of your technology?

A: The training Beicip-Franlab offers has certainly helped personnel comprehend the workflows they are developing, as well as reducing the time needed to deliver a sound product. PEMEX personnel are learning and understanding how to use our software very quickly. This is thanks to the OpenFlow Suite’s latest design, which is exceptionally user-friendly. It is very easy for clients to go through each application. It is a step-by-step process that has high-end geosciences, production and geophysical technologies embedded within it.

The speed this new version provides is very important for PEMEX because it means that the company receives an immediate value from using it in its fields. We did not update our programs simply to be able to sell them. It also means we are able to produce more highly-trained local content that will support the NOC in the long term. We are training PEMEX personnel so that the company can then run its own operations. By providing the correct workflows and offering experience with modeling, PEMEX will obtain a guaranteed value well into the future.

Q: How important is the Mexican market to Beicip-Franlab at a global level following the pandemic?

A: We are still located in Villahermosa, supporting PEMEX, despite the difficulties that the pandemic has delivered. We are trying to grow local content in Mexico to integrate more local staff into the Beicip-Franlab team next year, which will allow us to continue working with PEMEX. We have identified many highly-skilled personnel here and want to bring them into the company. This will assure that PEMEX has the high-level services the NOC has come to expect from Beicip-Franlab.

Beicip-Franlab is a developer of upstream software and a provider of consultancy services for exploration and production. Its OpenFlow Suite is a package of modeling tools that supports the minimization of exploration risk and recovery optimization.