Cantarell Field

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cantarell
Region:	North America
Country:	Mexico
Offshore/Onshore:	Offshore
Operators:	Pemex
Field History
Discovery:	1976
Start of production:	1981
Peak of production:	2004
Production
Producing Formations:	Jurassic

Cantarell Field or Cantarell Complex is the largest oil field in Mexico and one of the largest in the world. It was discovered in 1976 by a fisherman, Rudesindo Cantarell. In November 2006 Pemex reported that Cantarell has produced 11,492 million barrels of oil.^[1]

It is located 80 km offshore in the Bay of Campeche. This complex comprises four major fields: Akal (by far the largest), Nohoch, Chac and Kutz. The reservoirs are formed from carbonate breccia of Upper Cretaceous age, the rubble from the asteroid impact that created the Chicxulub Crater. The recently discovered Sihil (1-1.5 billion barrels) contains light oil in Jurassic strata below the other reservoirs and is generally referred to as a separate field, although its development will obviously benefit from the infrastructure already in place above it. Cantarell's oil production peaked in 2004 and has declined in subsequent years, with further decline expected in the future.^[2]

The first field was discovered in 1976, and by 1981 the Cantarell complex was producing 1.16 million barrels (180,000m³) per day. However, the production rate dropped to 1 million barrels (160,000 m³) per day in 1995. The nitrogen injection project started operating in 2000, and it increased the production rate to 1.6 million barrel/d (250,000 m³/d), to 1.9 million barrel/d (300,000 m³/d) in 2002 and to 2.1 million barrel/d (330,000 m³/d) of output in 2003, which ranks Cantarell the second fastest producing oil field in the world behind Ghawar Field in Saudi Arabia.^[3]

The nitrogen for the nitrogen injection process is supplied by the largest nitrogen production plant in the world. The plant currently consists of four production lines, each consisting of an air separation unit (ASU) powered by its own turbine generator, which is supplied with natural gas by PEMEX, and ancillary equipment. A fifth production line was under construction in late 2006. The nitrogen production plant was built by a consortium among: the construction/engineering companies Empresas ICA of Mexico and Fluor Corp. of the USA; gas companies Linde and BOC Group; Westcoast Energy of Canada, a gas pipeline company later acquired by Spectra Energy; and Marubeni. The nitrogen plant is owned and operated by a joint venture company which is majority owned by BOC Group, which was itself acquired by Linde in 2006.

Luis Ramírez Corzo, head of PEMEX's exploration and production division, announced on August 12, 2004 that the actual oil output from Cantarell is forecast to decline steeply from 2006 onwards, at a rate of 14% per year. In March 2006 it was reported that Cantarell had already peaked, with a second year of declining production in 2005. For 2006, the field's output declined by 13.1%, according to Jesús Reyes Heróles, the director-general of PEMEX.^[4] Heróles also predicted a decline of 15% for 2007.

By 2008 it is estimated that Cantarell will only produce 1 million barrel/d (160,000 m³/d) as it continues to decline. This rapid decline is postulated to be a result of production enhancement techniques causing faster oil extraction at the expense of field longevity.

In order to try to maintain heavy crude production in the Bay of Campeche, PEMEX is focusing its efforts on the development of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex in an adjacent area, which can be connected to the existing facilities of Cantarell. Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex is expected to produce 0.8 million barrel/d by the end of decade.