Before talking about new drilling, we need to talk about what already exists. Venezuela has more than 13,000 wells with productive history, many of them inactive due to equipment failures, artificial lift problems, or simply lack of maintenance. Rehabilitating them is not glamorous, but it is the most efficient thing that can be done today.
En la industria de los recursos naturales, hay una regla que los operadores experimentados aprenden rápido: the cheapest well you can produce is the one you already have drilled. Y en el contexto venezolano de 2026, donde consultoras internacionales estiman que se necesitarían hasta 14,000 millones de dólares en inversión de ciclo corto solo para recuperar 1.4 millones de barriles diarios, entender bien el workover no es teoría, es sobrevivencia operacional.
What exactly is a workover and when does it apply?
El término workover se refiere a cualquier intervención que se realiza en un pozo ya perforado para restaurar, mejorar o cambiar su condición productiva. No es perforación nueva; es cirugía al activo que ya tienes.
The most common cases in deteriorated Venezuelan fields include:
- Mechanical reconditioning: tubing replacement, damaged casing correction, cleaning of paraffin or sand accumulated at the bottom of the well.
- Artificial lift reactivation: repair or replacement of mechanical pumping, electric submersible, or progressive cavity systems that failed due to lack of maintenance or power outages.
- Formation stimulation: acidizing or fracturing to improve communication between the well and the reservoir.
- Production zone change: perforating a different interval when the original zone was depleted.
The decision of which to apply depends on three fundamental variables: the well diagnosis, the surface equipment condition, and the available infrastructure to support the work.
The most common mistake in rehabilitation programs
Many operators, and also some contractors who promise more than they can actually deliver, start a workover program without making the correct diagnosis. The result is predictable: money is spent intervening a well that has a different problem than what was thought, and the return never materializes.
The correct sequence is not bureaucracy; it is the difference between a workover that works and one that only generates billing without production.
The correct sequence is:
- Well history review: decline curves, latest bottomhole pressure measurements, historical water-oil ratio.
- Diagnosis of the closure cause: whether it was mechanical, electrical, economic, or due to artificial lift.
- Tubular condition evaluation: wear measurement in tubing and casing, especially in wells with more than 10 years without intervention.
- Workover design based on diagnosis: selection of the appropriate unit, control fluids, and contingency plan.
- Mobilization and execution with defined KPIs: cycle time, cost per recovered barrel, and return on investment date.
The infrastructure factor: the problem nobody mentions
In Venezuela, workover has an additional layer of complexity that does not exist in other countries: the surface infrastructure surrounding the well is frequently in the same condition, or worse, than the well itself.
This means that a successful subsurface intervention can fail at the surface if flow stations are not operational to receive the recovered crude, if electrical systems do not have the capacity to run a pump motor, or if gathering lines have leaks that make transportation impossible.
Por eso, los programas de rehabilitación más efectivos no trabajan pozo por pozo; trabajan por clústeres, rehabilitando en paralelo el pozo y la infraestructura que lo conecta con el proceso central. Eso requiere contratistas con capacidad integral: maquinaria pesada para movilización y obras civiles, equipos de instrumentación para poner en operación estaciones de medición y competencias técnicas para integrar todo bajo un solo plan de trabajo.
How long does it take to see results?
Depende del alcance, pero una referencia realista es esta: un programa de workover bien ejecutado en un campo con pozos previamente identificados puede comenzar a mostrar incremental production between 30 and 90 days después de iniciadas las operaciones. No es magia; es secuencia.
Los campos con mayor potencial en Venezuela para este tipo de estrategia son el Lake Maracaibo, donde décadas de operación dejaron miles de pozos con historial, y los campos del oriente del país, donde la combinación de infraestructura existente y potencial de yacimiento hace que la rehabilitación sea particularmente atractiva.
What to look for in a workover contractor
If you are evaluating suppliers for this type of work, there are questions that cannot be missed:
- Do they have documented experience in the specific type of well you need to intervene, whether lacustrine, onshore, heavy crude, or light crude?
- Can they supply both the workover equipment and surface machinery in the same operation?
- Do they have personnel certified in industrial safety for field operations?
- What availability do they have for operational emergencies?
A contractor who can answer these questions with real cases, and not just with brochures, is the one you need at this point in the Venezuelan market.