M&P announce the restart of activity in Venezuela

M&P Iberoamerica (80% subsidiary of M&P) owns a 40% interest in PRDL alongside PdVSA’s 60% interest, which gives M&P a 32% net interest in the Urdaneta Oeste field.

Olivier de Langavant, Chief Executive Officer of M&P, stated: We are delighted to be able to announce the full resumption of our operations in Venezuela, which we have been working towards for some years. It confirms the validity of our long-term growth strategy. Thanks to the announcements of the last few weeks, we have been able to finalise a contractual framework, which will allow us to finally tap the considerable potential of the Urdaneta Oeste field with immediate effect. This is a new step forward in the development of M&P, and it will provide substantial organic growth opportunities for the Group for years to come”.

Urdaneta Oeste is a shallow offshore producing field in Lake Maracaibo.

The resource in place is considerable, with a stock tank original oil-in-place (STOOIP) of 13 billion barrels. Over 332 million barrels have been produced as of December 2022, equivalent to a 2.5% recovery factor. As of year-end 2022, 422 million barrels (gross) were approved to be developed until the current license expiry in 2041.

The nominal capacity of the installed processing infrastructure is 70 000 bpd, with 68 platforms for wellheads and manifolds. The production peaked at approximately 50 000 bpd under Shell’s operatorship in the 1990s. Only 24 of 88 wells are currently active. The current gross production potential is approximately 16 500 bpd, with a production of 14 450 bpd for the first nine months of 2023.

M&P expects to ramp up the gross production potential back to 25 000 bpd by year-end 2024 thanks to targeted well interventions and surface repairs and optimisations. Additional drilling will then be required for the further increase in production planned thereafter.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/09112023/mp-announce-the-restart-of-activity-in-venezuela/