In 2020, PEMEX developed two new offshore fields in the Bay of Campeche but lacked suitable offshore facilities to handle the new production. For this reason, the operator decided to divert the long-term flow to its existing onshore Bateria Rabasa production facility near Agua Dulce, Veracruz. Before this could happen, however, the Rabasa facility needed upgrades and an expansion to handle the higher volume of additional production coming from the offshore wells. To help maintain cash flow, the operator needed a rapid solution for processing the offshore fluids while facility upgrades were underway.
After carefully studying the requirements, SLB used its Production ExPRESS™ rapid production response solutions to process the complex needs of seven wells with high fluid flow rates coming from offshore. A debottlenecking package was used to separate and pump the offshore fluids into the production line at the Rabasa facility. The solution was designed based on surface well test equipment with site-compliant safety features that could handle up to 17,000 bbl/d of oil and 30 MMcf/d of gas.
Well testing manifolds and separators were specially adapted and customized to accommodate dynamically changing conditions and achieve continuous flow to meet operator objectives. Additionally, a flowmeter equipped with Vx™ multiphase well testing technology was used to measure and account for recovery of processed fluid before sending it to the onshore facility.
Uninterrupted flow was achieved with the innovative design of the Production ExPRESS solutions package, leading to a cumulative production of 6.1 million bbl of oil and 14 Bcf of gas during the first year of operation. This temporary, fit-for-purpose solution remained operational while PEMEX finished facility enhancements to accommodate the additional flow from the new wells.
With this agile approach, SLB helped the operator achieve early cash flow and production objectives in 2.5 months despite COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. In all, SLB contributed to bringing seven offshore wells into production with zero NPT and zero HSE incidents during the first year, representing 64,656 labor hours.
