The second biggest oil field in the world

This week I ran into this from the oil industry rags I read. It is a
chilling thought since this is the 2nd biggest producer of oil on earth.
Ghawar produces 4.5 million bbl/day, Cantarell, 2.5 million bbl/day, Da
Qing and Burgun around 1 million per day.

       "Supergiant Cantarell continues to be the mainstay of Mexican oil
production, with 2.1 MMb/d of output in 2003 up from 1.9 MMb/d in 2002.
However, Cantarell is expected to decline rapidly over the next few
years, falling as far as 1 MM b/d by 2008. This has given particular
urgency to Pemex's efforts to develop other fields and move into
deepwater." For now, Pemex's best alternative project is the heavy-oil
complex known as Ku-Maloob-Zaap, in Campeche Bay close toCantarell.
Output from this complex was 288,000 b/d in 2003 and is expected to rise
to about 800,000 b/d by the end of the decade." David Shields, "Pemex
Ready to Drill in Deepwater Perdido Area," Offshore, June 2004, p. 38

Even the largest fields we find offshore in the deepwater today only
produce about 250,000 bbl/day. It will take about 4 of them to replace
this decline in Cantarell.
And even the heavy oil field they mention won't replace the loss of
Cantarell by the end of the decade. And one must remember that all oil
fields which are producing today, are in the process of declining.
Received on Thu Jul 8 23:06:57 2004