American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 82

SpecialReport: New World Mexico
Located about 200 miles off the Texas
Gulf Coast and 155 miles from Matamoros
at the U.S. border, the Perdido Fold Belt
is well known for the technical challenges it presents to operators: Project
spread rates are expensive and rigs are
forced to operate at the limits of their capabilities far offshore in water depths approaching 10,000 feet and reservoir target
depths up to 26,250 feet. This is in addition to highly variable exploration geology, narrow mud weight windows, shallow geohazards, subsalt drilling, and
complicated pore pressure models derived
from surface seismic velocities, low-resistivity pay, and highly laminated reservoirs.
Regardless, the Perdido Fold Belt is
considered to have high reserve and oil
production potential. Pemex has drilled
three oil reservoir discoveries successfully: Supremus-1 and Trion-1 in 2012, and
Maximino-1 in 2013. An important element of the evolution and development of
the company's working practices in the
Gulf over the past decade has focused on
drilling and formation evaluation.
Figure 1 illustrates the increasing water depths of drilling projects offshore
Mexico between 2003 and 2013, with 30
deep- and ultradeepwater wells drilled in
water depths ranging from 1,680 to 9,514

feet. The green lines indicate wells that
were spudded in 2013, but still were being drilled in the first quarter of 2014.
Pemex uses a front-end loading methodology that is based on project management
stage gates and clearly defined milestones
to optimize well construction design and
control capital expenditure. Five stages-visualization, conceptualization, definition,
follow-up and evaluation-characterize the
approach.
During visualization, all possible options are identified and validated in relation to strategic business goals. The team
uses a systematic approach to digitally simulate different design scenarios to find an
optimal configuration, with contingencies
and mitigation options. Conceptualization
sees the selection of the best option,
which is followed by the definition stage
when the project scope is developed in
depth, and an execution plan and cost estimates are produced. In the follow-up
stage the well is constructed, and in the final evaluation stage, the project is evaluated and lessons learned are documented.
The exploration team is steered by a project leader, who brings in each multidisciplinary element required to progress through
the design stages: geophysics, geology,
petrophysics, geomechanics, reservoir,

Chuktah 201
2000

Puskon
2011

Tamil
2008

Nab
2004

Etbakel
2008
Kabilil
2009

Lalail
2007
Vespa
2013

Chelem
2007

500 m
Shallow water

Leek
2009

Talipau
2011

Noxal
2006

Holok
2009

Tamha
2008

2,919 m

2,919 m

2,877 m

2,572 m

2,557 m

2,532 m

2,185 m

2,148 m

2,087 m

1,930 m

1,928 m

1,802 m

1,776 m

1,698 m

1,493 m

1,230 m

Lakach 2DL
2010
Catamat
2008 Nen
2011

Hux
2011

1,500 m

Deep
water

1,194 m

1,186 m

1,122 m

988 m

Lakach
2000

1,029 m

945 m

936 m

851 m

810 m

805 m

775 m

739 m

681 m

679 m

660 m

624 m

513 m

FIGURE 1
Water Depths of Deep- and Ultradeepwater Wells Offshore Mexico
(2003-13)

Ultradeep
water

Labay
2009

Caxa
2012 Piklis
2010

Piklis 1DL
2013

Ahawbil
Kunah
2013
Yoka 2011
2013

Trion
2011
Kunah 1DL
2012
Exploratus
2013

Trion 1DL
PEP
2013
2013
Supremus
Maximino
2012
2013

82 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

drilling, completion, productivity, risk assessment and technical limits. This process
is further supported with international service companies that leverage their wider global knowledge bases and improved application solutions of their technologies.
Drilling Considerations

An important design consideration is
the specification of the subsea wellhead,
given the stresses caused by environmental marine-current lateral forces and
high hydrostatic pressures in deepwater
wells. The wellhead system must support
numerous casing strings of different diameters to reach deep geological targets, as
well as resist the ongoing presence of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide.
For example, in its first ultradeepwater well drilled in 2009 in a water depth of
5,570 feet and that reached a total depth
of 11,030 feet, Pemex used an 183⁄4-inch
subsea wellhead system with a maximum pressure capacity of 15,000 psi, and
a bending moment limit of 5.2 million
foot-pounds. This arrangement allowed
suspension of 36 x 20 x 135⁄8 x 95⁄8-inch casing strings, allowing liner options of 16,
113⁄4, and 75⁄8 inches.
For the subsequent deeper wells drilled
in 2012 and 2013 (in water depths up to
9,514 feet and final depths up to 21,326
feet), the company used a different system
with an increased bending moment limit
of 7 million foot-pounds, and 36 x 28 x 22
x 135⁄8 x 95⁄8-inch casing strings, with liners
of 18, 16, 113⁄4 and 75⁄8 inches. This is a good
example of how the company has evolved
and adapted its approach in line with lessons and experiences from the field.
Pemex used the pump-and-dump system for drilling riserless sections. Here, the
surface section is drilled without fluid returns to the rig. Once an expected increase
in pore pressure is confirmed with realtime indicators, a heavy fluid is used to
drill an interval between 150 and 200 meters, and to optimize setting the 20-inch
surface casing. The large fluid volume
must be in constant supply during the 24hour window of operation because of the
high rate of penetration.



American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

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