Performed by Schlumberger
One Team, One Goal
Every year, the Performed by Schlumberger
program recognizes projects across the company
that have demonstrated excellence in teamwork,
innovation, and business impact. The highest
recognition goes to the project with the greatest
overall impact, and that project receives the
Schlumberger Chairman’s Award. In 2010, the
award went to the Mexico South Project Team.
Historically, oil fields in the Mexican national oil
company PEMEX’s South Region have performed
an important role in the country’s oil production,
providing light sweet crude for blending with
heavier crudes produced from other regions.
In recent years, South Region production peaked
at approximately 450,000 bbl/d. Faced with
declining production in other regions, PEMEX
challenged the region to deliver 650,000 bbl/d
by 2015. To achieve this goal requires a dramatic
increase in drilling intensity, which in turn
requires an integrated approach—both in project
management and in service delivery. Extreme
operating conditions and a difficult drilling environment complicate the
challenge, with average well depths approaching 20,000 ft and temperatures
exceeding 370 degF.
In 2007, PEMEX contracted Schlumberger to manage two major initiatives launched
in response to this challenge: the Mesozoic and Alianza Projects. A close partnership
formed between the PEMEX drilling department and the Schlumberger Integrated
Project Management team responsible for overseeing the operations. The
Schlumberger and PEMEX drilling and productivity groups also worked closely
together to better understand the reservoir’s characteristics. The outcome was
a clear plan for improving performance and optimizing production.
By 2010, the two projects had exceeded all expectations, with their wells delivering
over 90,000 bbl/d to the region’s production, more than 30% higher than was planned
by this stage. Over 300,000 ft has been drilled and more than 40 new technologies
deployed. One factor in this success is the focus on continuous performance improve-
ment based on the global Schlumberger Excellence in Execution initiative, which has
contributed to an average improvement of more than 60% in performance indicators
between 2007 and 2010. Another factor is the close collaboration with PEMEX’s
geoscientists and engineers to meet the challenges of drilling to such depths. The
projects still face other challenges in reaching their targets for 2015, but the results
delivered so far are a source of inspiration for the future.
Wireline Field Engineer Viviane
Karcher supervises ongoing openhole
logging operations. In the Mexico
South project, PEMEX and
Schlumberger teams work closely
together and Schlumberger
technologies are well integrated to
improve performance and optimize
production.
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