Eni doubles Mexico's Area 1 production with FPSO

After experiencing a minor hiccup, it appears Italy’s Eni has commercial oil production with its FPSO up and running in Mexico’s Area 1 as output doubled from February to March. 

Eni first put into operation the Miamte FPSO (floating production storage and offloading unit, pictured) at its Amoca, Miztón and Tecoalli fields at the end of February.

And March data from Mexico’s hydrocarbons regulator CNH shows the company managed to increase its output at the site by 102% last month compared with February. 

According to CNH, production in the three fields during March totaled 18,881b/d, compared with 9,336b/d in February.

Eni was the first international player to bring early production online in 2019 with Area 1’s Amoca-Miztón-Tecoalli shallow-water fields, just off the coast of Tabasco state in the Gulf of Mexico.

And on April 19, it became the first international operator to export oil from a complex offshore project in Mexican waters since the 2013-14 energy reforms that partially opened up the sector.

Production was briefly placed on hold in March on an export permitting issue. The company had already acquired a valid export permit from the energy ministry, but had yet to secure a separate permit from customs.

The FPSO has capacity of 90,000b/d oil and 75Mf3/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas. 

According to a report in industry outlet Oil Field Technology, the full development of Area 1 will include 33 wells connected to three wellhead platforms plus one monopod, in addition to the FPSO. 

For now, the first two wellhead platforms are in operation in the Mitzón and Amoca fields while additional activities to develop Tecoalli and Amoca are in motion.