Unlocking Production: A Mature-Field Strategy

Q: Drillinktech inaugurated its headquarters in Houston while maintaining a strong operational base in Mexico. How does this bilateral presence between the US and Mexico enhance your ability to transfer deepwater and unconventional expertise to PEMEX’s current projects?

A: Drillinktech was founded in 2015, with more than a decade of experience and over 35 projects executed across Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. From the outset, we positioned ourselves as a global organization, combining engineering depth with a strong understanding of regional operational realities.

Prior to the pandemic, we opened offices in Houston, Texas, which became a strategic platform for consolidating international partnerships, particularly in engineering and technology. This presence allows us to work closely with global technology developers and engineering firms while maintaining operational and technical continuity with our teams in Mexico and other regions.

From an engineering perspective, our work spans conceptual, basic, and detailed engineering for exploration and production projects. This includes subsurface work at the reservoir level as well as surface facilities. Over time, we have built solid alliances with specialized companies, complemented by the expertise of our own multidisciplinary teams. This combination has enabled us to successfully deliver projects in new developments, exploration fields, and mature assets with long production histories.

Drillinktech operates as a truly global organization, structured around five core pillars, one of which is integrated projects. In these cases, operators approach us to take responsibility for the full development cycle, from conceptualization and detailed engineering to execution. We work collaboratively with operators and local partners, as we recently did on international projects where the operator provided the field data and we delivered the engineering and development solutions alongside local entities.

Q: Where does Drillinktech add the most value to projects?

A: Our focus is not limited to large, highly prolific fields. In fact, a significant part of our value proposition lies in marginal, depleted, or overlooked assets that major operators often exit in favor of higher-profile opportunities. Many of these fields still hold meaningful production potential but were previously mismanaged, under-optimized, or inadequately engineered. When analyzed with the right technical rigor, these assets can deliver strong results, as we have demonstrated repeatedly in different regions.

This approach aligns closely with methodologies used by PEMEX, such as conceptualization and project definition frameworks. We apply similar methodologies in mature fields to maximize recovery and unlock incremental production. Today, we are also involved in offshore projects in regions such as the Caspian Sea, supported by a global team located in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.

Our vision is to be the partner of choice for national and international oil companies. We do not position ourselves as a service provider selling a predefined solution. Our objective is very clear: to help operators produce more oil and gas in the most efficient and technically sound way possible. Everything we do is oriented toward increasing production and creating tangible value.

Q: Increasing production from mature fields is a priority for Mexico. Can you share more about Drillinktech’s operations in the country and your perspective on Mexico’s specific context, including mature fields, ambitious production targets, and deepwater developments?

A: Mexico is a remarkable country with an extraordinary pool of talent, particularly within PEMEX. I have deep professional respect for PEMEX engineers and technicians, many of whom I consider close colleagues. I have had the opportunity to work directly with the NOC, and I can say with confidence that the company’s expansion and recovery plans are extremely ambitious.

Secondary recovery and production maintenance are critical. Every reservoir goes through a natural decline phase as pressure decreases over time. Without intervention, production inevitably falls. Mexico’s current challenge is not only how to increase production from approximately 1.6 MMb/d to 1.7MM/d to closer to 1.9MMb/d, but also how to achieve and sustain that increase over time.

Traditional service models have not always delivered the results PEMEX needs, particularly in complex or mature assets. This is where companies like Drillinktech play a role. We may be relatively young as a company, but our teams bring 30 to 40 years of international experience across exploration and production projects worldwide.

When our specialists sit down with PEMEX teams, we speak the same technical language. Our approach is collaborative and pragmatic. We focus on identifying low-hanging fruit or quick wins in mature fields. These actions require limited capital and manageable risk but can generate rapid production gains and early cash flow.

We have applied this methodology successfully in countries such as Nigeria. In one case, we were called in as an independent engineering firm to evaluate a major field previously operated by a global major. Using a quick-win approach, we reduced the number of proposed well interventions from nearly 90 to 26, while still achieving roughly 50% of the expected production increase. This type of disciplined, data-driven decision-making is directly applicable to Mexico’s mature field portfolio.

Mexico’s oil platform is largely built on mature assets, and that is not a limitation if approached correctly.

Q: How do you assess the opportunities in Mexico today, considering the absence of new bidding rounds, the limited number of mixed contracts awarded, and the large portfolio of legacy and mature fields?

A: Based on recent discussions I attended in Mexico, including CMP and meetings with industry leaders, there is a strong technical focus on deep and ultra-deep wells as a symbol of progress. These wells, often exceeding 20,000ft, are impressive from an engineering standpoint, but they are also extremely expensive, complex, and risky.

At the same time, there is a growing and very sound argument in favor of prioritizing investment in what already exists. Mexico has thousands of drilled wells and developed fields. Many of them were affected by suboptimal operational practices, inadequate completions, or insufficient reservoir management. From a capital efficiency perspective, it makes far more sense to allocate a significant portion of the budget to well interventions, maintenance, and recovery optimization rather than concentrating resources exclusively on new drilling.

A single new well can cost US$50 to US$60 million, with no guarantee of success. With that same amount of capital, it is possible to intervene in several existing wells, each with lower risk and faster production response. Instead of betting everything on one outcome, this approach diversifies risk and delivers incremental barrels more quickly. It is a conservative strategy, but one that is well suited to Mexico’s current context.

In my view, PEMEX’s E&P strategy should focus first on conventional fields, maximizing recovery from wells that still have potential. This requires structured collaboration with engineering-focused companies like Drillinktech, organizations that can sit down with PEMEX teams, review wells one by one, prioritize opportunities, and focus on a single objective: increasing production.

Mexico’s challenge is not a lack of resources or infrastructure. It is about organization, prioritization, and execution. There are many mature fields with existing wells, facilities, and surface infrastructure that still hold meaningful potential. These assets require a dedicated mature-field mindset, not the same structure used for large greenfield developments.

Q: What are Drillinktech’s plans for Mexico looking ahead to 2026, and what role do you hope the company can play in the country’s energy future?

A: I have a deep personal and professional connection to Mexico. I genuinely admire the people, the technical talent, and the professionals within PEMEX. I have worked directly inside the organization, and I understand its challenges from firsthand experience. For that reason, I sincerely hope that Drillinktech can build a long-term, meaningful presence in the country.

Our aspiration is not to act as a short-term service provider. Our vision is to become a true partner of choice. That means working alongside PEMEX as an extension of its technical teams, with a shared objective of producing more oil and gas efficiently, responsibly, and at the lowest possible cost.

Our approach is simple in concept but demanding in execution. We assemble the right specialists across drilling, completions, production, and facilities. We perform a rigorous technical diagnosis. Based on that diagnosis, we define clear actions, expected production gains, and required investment. Results are measured quickly, and decisions are adjusted accordingly. In many cases, wells can be brought back to production within weeks, not years, and without the need for massive capital expenditures.

Mexico has already invested heavily in drilling, completions, and facilities. The wells exist. The infrastructure exists. There is still oil in the ground. Helping to unlock that value at low cost is, in my view, a practical way to support PEMEX and, ultimately, the country. That is the role we hope to play, with humility, discipline, and a clear focus on results.

Drillinktech is a globally integrated oilfield services and engineering consulting company that specializes in providing advanced technical solutions for the upstream sector.