Last July, the latest data available, Ixachi achieved a production of 25,716 barrels of oil condensates – light liquids that can be refined, used in gas complexes or mixed with heavier crude oil. And although production has grown steadily – just in January 2020 it amounted to over 5,000 barrels per day of condensate – it is still well below the targets set.
Gas production targets are also far from targets. The oil regulator reported last July a production in Ixachi of 200 million cubic feet. Analysts point out that it is a very complex field, due to its high pressure and temperature, which has made the company’s work difficult.
In his first government report, in September 2019, the executive representative assured that Ixachi already produced around 4,000 barrels of crude oil. But so far the CNH has records of non-associated gas and condensate production in the field, but not oil.
Ixachi is part of the 20 fields named as priorities in the strategy of the state company Pemex to increase its production aggressively. It has even been rated by the state administration as the most important in the plan.
The president’s announcement in Veracruz took place when the federal administration assured that it would arrive by the end of 2024 with a production of up to 2.654 million barrels. In his latest speeches, the president has placed his production forecast at 2 million barrels a day, a goal that is still classified as unrealistic by analysts due to the lack of liquidity of the oil company.
The national oil company has planned by 2022 the drilling of 47 new wells in the onshore asset of Veracruz. In its last call with analysts, the management of the company announced that so far it has only drilled nine. In the same call, the directors of the company reported a production of Ixachi of 27,000 barrels per day. A very distant figure from that reported by the oil regulator.
In its latest reports, the state oil company has labeled the extracted barrels of crude condensate as oil to increase reported production, It has not met the expectations raised.
Resources for 2022
Among the resources that the state Pemex requested from the Chamber of Deputies for next year, it contemplates 31.488 million pesos for Ixachi, according to the draft budget for expenditures.
For this year, the state company had also requested an investment budget for Ixachi of 31,881 million pesos, but this was not fully exercised. The Treasury records reveal that in recent years Pemex has disbursed around 11,100 million pesos, only 15% of the total resources – which amount to more than 70,000 million pesos – that the agency has programmed for the development of the field.