ABSTRACT
Drilling—In 1972, Petroleos Mexicanos drilled 431 wells, 85 less than in 1971. Of the 431 wells, 143 were exploratory, 14 more than in 1971. Of the exploratory wells, 4 did not reach their objective because of mechanical failure. A total of 288 development wells also was drilled.
The total footage drilled during 1972 was 3,727,563 ft (1,136,452 m). Of this amount, 1,460,118 ft (445,158 m) was exploratory drilling, 4.9% more than in 1971. The average depth of exploratory wells was 10,210 ft and of development wells, 7,873 ft.
The success of new-field wildcats was 18.6%; the success of other types of exploratory wells was 24.5%.
Exploratory activities—(1) Exploratory parties: during 1972, 75 exploration parties were in operation. Of these, 22 did field mapping; 17, subsurface mapping; 23, seismic mapping onshore and 5, seismic mapping offshore; 5, gravity meter; 1, terrestrial magnetometer; and 2, combination magnetometer and gravity meter. (2) Exploratory wells: in 1972, 143 exploratory wells were drilled. Of these, 4 did not reach their objective, because of mechanical failure. Of the 139 remaining wells, 88 were new-field wildcats, 11 of which were oil producers and 5, gas producers. This gives an exploration success of 18.6%. Of the exploratory failures, 46 were extension wells for deeper pool wildcats on producing structures; 9 were stratigraphic tests in new areas. Of the various types of exploratory wells, the success percentage was 24.5.
Annual production of oil and gas—The annual production of crude oil and condensate during 1972 was 185,000,000 bbl, 4.08% more than in 1971. The daily liquid production was 505,494 bbl and the daily gas production was 1,803.8 MMcf. Total annual gas production was 660,232 MMcf.
Reserves—At year end, the reserves of oil and gas reached 5,387.8 million bbl, a decline of 40,495 bbl with respect to 1971.
