Ku-Maloob-Zaap facts for kids

Ku-Maloob-Zaap is a very important oil field located in Mexico. It is actually a group of several oil fields found together. These fields are named Ku, Maloob, and Zaap.

This oil field is located offshore, meaning it's out in the sea. It's in the Bay of Campeche, which is off the coast of Tabasco, Mexico. The water there is about 100 metres (330 ft) deep.

Mexico's national oil company, PEMEX, found this oil field in 1979. It covers a large area of about 121 square kilometres (47 sq mi). Besides Ku, Maloob, and Zaap, it also includes smaller fields like Bacab, Lum, and Zazil-Ha.

The oil comes from different rock layers deep underground. These layers are called reservoirs. The total amount of oil believed to be in this field is about 4.9 billion barrels.

How Ku-Maloob-Zaap Started Producing Oil

The different parts of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field were discovered over several years. The Ku field was found in 1980. The Maloob field was discovered in 1984. Finally, the Zaap field was found in 1991.

The first oil from the Ku field started flowing in 1981. To get the oil out, many things had to be built. Workers drilled 82 wells, which are like big holes going deep into the Earth. Four of these wells inject nitrogen gas to help push the oil out.

Many oil platforms were also set up. There were 17 platforms in total. These included platforms for drilling, for processing oil, for workers to live on, and for communication. There are also 42 oil pipelines, stretching for 166 kilometres (103 mi), to move the oil that is produced.

Reaching Peak Oil Production

The goal for Ku-Maloob-Zaap was to produce a lot of oil. By 2011, it was expected to produce about 800,000 barrels per day (130,000 m³/d) of oil every day. It was also expected to produce about 282 million cubic feet per day (8.0×10^⁶ m³/d) of natural gas.

This goal was actually met even earlier, in November 2009. At that time, the oil production reached 802,002 barrels per day (127,508.1 m³/d) daily. In 2010, the field produced even more, about 839,200 barrels per day (133,420 m³/d) of crude oil.

Production continued to increase. In November 2015, it reached 853,000 barrels per day (135,600 m³/d). This made Ku-Maloob-Zaap Mexico's most productive oil field. This happened as production from another big field, Cantarell Field, started to go down.

The Ku-Maloob-Zaap field is very important for PEMEX. It is one of the company's most profitable oil fields. This means it helps PEMEX earn a lot of money.

In July 2021, an incident happened in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field. A gas pipeline under the sea had a leak, which caused a fire. Later, in August, another incident involving an explosion and fire happened on one of its platforms, which affected operations.

Why Oil Production is Declining

After reaching its highest production, the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field has started to produce less oil. This is a normal part of an oil field's life.

In July 2019, production went down to 770,000 barrels per day (122,000 m³/d). By July 2020, it dropped further to 640,000 barrels per day (102,000 m³/d). The global situation with Covid-19 also played a part in this decline.

However, production did recover a bit. In 2021, it was about 719,000 barrels per day (114,300 m³/d). In 2022, the field produced about 700,000 barrels per day (110,000 m³/d) of oil. This amount is about 40% of all the oil PEMEX produces.

To try and keep the oil flowing, PEMEX is using special methods. These include carefully managing how much oil is taken out each day. They also use nitrogen injection, which is a technique to help push more oil out of the ground.

See also

• List of oil fields
• In Spanish: Ku-Maloob-Zaap para niños