PEMEX To Boost Output In Declining Cantarell Field (Actual Headline!) - OGJ

[hatrack]

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 4 -- Average output at Mexico's Cantarell oil field will decline by as much as 20% this year as the field matures, a Petroleos Mexicanos executive reported.

Carlos Morales Gil, Pemex exploration and production director, said the state firm will reverse the decline when the company installs new production equipment at the field. The energy ministry has said investment in Cantarell would reach $5 billion this year.

Morales said output at Cantarell will range from 1.2-1.3 million b/d this year, compared with an average of 1.5 million in 2007.

According to figures published by the energy ministry, Cantarell's output had already slipped to 1.27 million b/d in January, down some 230,000 b/d from the 1.6 million b/d in January 2007. In fourth-quarter 2007 Pemex drilled five new development wells at Cantarell and repaired nine major wells and 10 smaller wells. During first-quarter 2008, the company plans to complete a nitrogen recovery unit in the field.

EDIT

http://www.ogj.com/display_article/321898/7/ONART/none/DriPr/1/Pemex-to-boost-output-in-declining-Cantarell-field/

[kestrel91316]

1. "........as the field matures......" - they should be saying:

".....as the field peters out....."

[hatrack]

2. "The last time Tap toured America, they were booked into 10,000-seat arenas, and 15,000-seat venues

. . . and it seems that now, on their current tour they're being booked into 1,200 seat arenas, 1,500 seat arenas, and uh I was just wondering, does this mean uh...the popularity of the group is waning?

Ian: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no...no, no, not at all. I, I, I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.

[kestrel91316]

4. hatrack, whatcha smokin' there? Say WHAT????

[phantom power]

5. Spinal Tap humor.

The best kind of humor there is.

[kestrel91316]

6. Oy. I guess my BIL would get it (he has seen Spinal Tap many times).

[phantom power]

7. for your viewing pleasure:

(actual quote is about 8 minutes in)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lVVahII-EIo&feature=related

[Strelnikov_]

8. Sounds like they plan on going to '11' on the wellhead pumps n/t

[Speck Tater]

3. The problem with that plan is...

If you put ten straws in a glass of lemonade it's still just a single glass of lemonade. It just won't last as long with ten people slurping it up. Dropping extra wells might give you a temporary boost in capacity, but at the cost of depleting the whole field that much sooner.

[lectrobyte]

9. Basically, yes, but the nitrogen recovery will let you get more out

than you would have otherwise, since you are squeezing the sponge dry, so to speak. But the point remains, and it's a big one, the fields in decline and it will cost more (nitrogen systems, new wells etc.) per barrel to get the remaining oil out. Or in other words, the essence of peak oil.

[Javaman]

10. aka pumping out the sludge at the bottom. nt