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BOC-LED JOINT VENTURE TO EXPAND FACILITIES USED TO BOOST MEXICAN OIL FIELDS PRODUCTION
A BOC-led joint venture, which has already invested US$1 billion in this project, will increase by 25 per cent the amount of nitrogen it supplies from what is already the world’s largest nitrogen-generating complex in the state of Campeche, Mexico. A contract for the new, 20-year agreement has been signed between Pemex Exploracion y Produccion, the exploration and production arm of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico’s national oil company, and Compañía de Nitrógeno de Cantarell, S.A. de C.V., a joint venture between The BOC Group, Marubeni Corporation and Marubeni America Corporation. BOC has a 65 per cent stake in CNC; Marubeni Corporation and Marubeni America Corporation have 25 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. The agreement calls for the supply of an additional 300 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of nitrogen that will be used at the Cantarell and Ku Maalob Zaap oil fields. The additional supply will lift the total nitrogen output to 1.5 billion scf/d at the site. John Bevan, chief executive, Process Gas Solutions, BOC, said, "We are delighted that Pemex has acknowledged BOC’s expertise in leading a project of this magnitude and has selected us to help maximize the Cantarell and Ku Maalob Zaap oil output. Since Pemex awarded our consortium the contract in 1997, BOC has worked to deliver the safest, most reliable and most cost-effective solution to help Pemex achieve its goals. This new agreement comes at a time when the world is focused on ensuring steady and secure sources of energy, we are pleased to provide the global oil industry with realistic solutions for unleashing the full potential of the world’s natural resources.” CNC will construct a fifth air separation unit, a fifth power plant and expand the existing sea water cooling and ancillary facilities at the world’s largest nitrogen generation complex. The new ASU will have a capacity of 300 million scf/d; the new power plant will add 55 megawatts of electrical generation capacity and 175 tons/hr of steam production. The new facility will be fully integrated with the existing facilities; the capacities of the project’s natural gas, nitrogen and seawater cooling intake and outflow pipelines are sufficient for the expanded production. Construction completion is scheduled for 2007. Since the Cantarell project began in 2000, oil production has doubled to 2.2 million barrels per day, of which some 600,000 BPD is attributed to pressure maintenance achieved with the nitrogen injection. The nitrogen is injected into the oil reservoirs to prevent the natural decline of pressure from exploitation and will increase the recovery of oil reserves during the life of the Akal field by an estimated 2.3 billion barrels of oil. PEP selected nitrogen to maintain the field’s pressure because of its lower cost per standard cubic foot versus natural gas, nitrogen’s non-corrosive properties, its lower scf requirements versus other gases, such as carbon dioxide, and because it can be produced readily at the site. By using nitrogen, PEP also frees up the natural gas for sale, instead of reinjecting it into the field. Oil producers and refiners look to BOC for its knowledge, skill and experience in delivering reliable engineered solutions for their upstream and downstream needs. BOC’s petroleum experts have years of industry experience and are focused on designing and delivering solutions that address our customers’ productivity, environmental and economic challenges at their facilities worldwide.
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