The well will reach approximately 3,496 meters in depth and is being drilled using YPFB’s YPFB-02 rig rated at 2,000 horsepower. According to Edmundo Majluf Rabaj, YPFB’s national manager of exploration and exploitation, drilling operations began after completion of rig demobilization, transport and assembly activities. Personnel from YPFB and contracted service companies are executing the drilling program.
The field was returned to YPFB by Spanish major Repsol and is now operated directly by the state company’s National Exploration and Exploitation Management. Irasí León Saavedra, YPFB’s drilling director, indicated the well is projected to increase oil production with light crude grading between 44 and 46 degrees API, a high-quality specification that commands premium pricing in regional markets.
YPFB is conducting permanent environmental monitoring of the operations in compliance with Bolivia’s Environmental Law, as the area of influence is an agricultural zone requiring heightened environmental oversight. The Surubí-Mamoré development follows YPFB’s broader strategy of intensifying production from existing fields under state operation.
Separately, YPFB is executing a maintenance and production enhancement campaign across 11 wells in the mature Toro and Bermejo fields in Tarija department. Using pulling equipment to intervene already-drilled wells, the company is targeting production increases of up to 30 percent in Toro and 20 percent in Bermejo from current levels. Majluf highlighted the reopening of the Bermejo 33 well, which had been shut in for years and has now returned to stable oil production. The interventions in both mature fields focus on reactivating production from formations with remaining productive potential not fully exploited during earlier operational phases.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
