Mexico Seismic Services Company Targets Reduced Work Cycles as Business Expands in Latin America
State-owned Mexican company Compania Mexicana de Exploraciones S.A. de C.V., (COMESA), has been providing solutions for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in Mexico for over 45 years – first for Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and then to other businesses in the country. In the past year, COMESA has expanded its client base into other Latin America countries, including Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, as well as to South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale.
Earlier this week, we announced together with COMESA that the company has adopted Paradigm software to support this expansion and its current service offerings. (Read more about this news). Angel Garcia, Paradigm Mexico country manager, recently sat down with Adan Oviedo, managing director of COMESA, to discuss the opportunities his company is seeing in Latin America, the challenges operators in this region face and why COMESA selected the Paradigm solution suite.
Paradigm: What is the main challenge for gas and petroleum exploration companies in Mexico and the rest of Latin America?
Oviedo: From the perspective of service companies, the main challenge is providing efficient workflows and competent human resources. We need to be able to integrate information received using different technologies, in order to provide integrated solutions to our clients.
For operating companies in Mexico, the main challenge is to deliver this information in a truthful and timely manner, so that the operating companies can use it to make the best decisions about their business investments, whether related to the discovery of a new well or to the best way to exploit existing reserves.
Of course, there’s always the matter of the diverse deposits that exist in Mexico. Some good examples of this would be the very complex, compact rock deposits in Chicontepec, potential shale gas and shale oil reserves, deep water deposits, and naturally fractured deposits. We also have to deal with the traditional deposits that we’ve been exploiting in Mexico for over 100 years. These need to be looked at using new technologies. Obviously this needs to be done in a cost-effective manner, to make the effort worthwhile .
Paradigm: How does advanced technology for exploring and producing oil deposits help simplify complicated processes?
Oviedo: The exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons is without a doubt a high-tech industry, which demands high capital – massively high, I’d say – as well as very competent human resources. Efficient management of data coming from multiple sources can facilitate the understanding of natural subsurface phenomena and provide a better understanding of hydrocarbon occurrence. It can solve problems related to uncertainty and give you a better idea of the risk involved in your E&P activities. That’s technology’s role.
Advanced technology also translates into establishing standard flow processes. This allows studies to be replicated in a reliable manner, regardless of which survey the analysis is linked to.
Paradigm: COMESA recently adopted Paradigm software solutions for seismic processing and imaging, and for modeling and interpretation. What were the reasons for this decision, and in which activities do you plan to implement Paradigm solutions?
Oviedo: We decided to incorporate the Paradigm interpretation and data processing solutions into our technology tools. We chose Paradigm because it’s had a long-term presence in our market, and has always come up with innovative, state-of-the-art solutions for these kinds of problems.
In COMESA’s specific thinking about integrating our solutions, we find Paradigm’s processing and interpretation solutions to be very convenient. Their high integration facilitates interaction between our seismic processing analysts and subsurface data interpreters, resulting in shorter work cycles. In the end this also translates into time reduction and added value for our final clients. Using Paradigm tools, we can provide our customers with integrated solutions that give them a better understanding of the risk and uncertainty in their assets, which helps them make sound business and technical decisions. And shortening the delivery date of these results enables them to make their decisions in a timely manner.
Paradigm: Could you give us some examples of how your solutions have opened up new opportunities for exploration and production in Latin America regions, such as Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, as well as the Eagle Ford in Texas)?
Oviedo: A couple of years ago we performed a job for Petróleos Mexicanos. It was a particularly interesting case, because usually in the industry the company that requires the seismic acquisition does the design, and then requests bids for the acquisition. The company that wins the bid acquires the data, and then a third company processes it. In the end, the operating company interprets the data and generates the drilling location for hydrocarbons.
In our case, we collaborated with the customer and designed the acquisition together. We used an integrated solution that enabled us to significantly reduce the time cycle. It took only 180 days from the first day of seismic acquisition to the first day of production! It usually takes over 18 months to do that. This kind of service is the COMESA philosophy. For 8 years we’ve worked on integrating these solutions inside the organization. Today we think we have the fortitude, the knowledge, the experience and the capacity to provide such services. This definitely translates into a competitive advantage and a preferred option for our clients.