Pemex Gives $646 Million Drilling Contract To Weatherford
30 Março 2009 - 3:24PM
Dow Jones News
State oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has awarded a
$646 million drilling contract to Weatherford International Ltd.
(WFT), expanding the oil service company's workload in Mexico,
Pemex said Monday.
In a statement, Pemex said the project will start April 15 and
last over three years. The contract is for 500 wells in the
Chicontepec region in northern Mexico. Chicontepec involves high
drilling costs and low productivity at oil wells.
Pemex has been behind schedule on reaching production goals at
Chicontepec. The company is relying on the region to compensate for
plummeting production at Cantarell, the country's second-largest
oil field.
Weatherford won two drilling contracts in Chicontepec last year
and was fined by Pemex for an undisclosed amount for falling behind
schedule. But Weatherford does not consider the delays a large
problem.
The company has said the 2008 Chicontepec drilling contracts
will be completed this year. Industry experts said Weatherford's
experience at Chicontepec and the fact that it has equipment in
place will help the company with future work.
Mexican oil production fell to a 13-year low in February of
about 2.7 million barrels a day. By 2015, Pemex expects Chicontepec
to produce 511,000 barrels a day, helping to get overall production
back above 3 million barrels a day.
-By Peter Millard, Dow Jones Newswires; 5255-5001-5724;
peter.millard@dowjones.com