Mexico’s top oil field declining fast – Pemex

– Mexican state-run oil monopoly Pemex confirmed a gloomier forecast on Wednesday for fast-declining oil output at its aging Cantarell field, but said from now on it could keep total crude production steady.

Chief Executive Jesus Reyes Heroles said the company’s official production estimate for Cantarell was for an average of 1.526 million barrels per day during 2007, down 15 percent from an average 1.788 million bpd last year.

The figure is in line with recent industry talk but bleaker than Pemex’s outlook six months ago when it forecast Cantarell’s output at 1.683 million bpd for 2007 and 1.430 million for 2008.
Pemex’s darkening outlook reflects worldwide concern over oil production as old gushers dry up and companies are forced to invest more in exploring harder-to-reach deposits.

Pemex, a cash cow whose taxes provide more than a third of Mexico’s fiscal income, is under pressure to maintain stagnating production while also bolstering declining reserves with new oil discoveries.

Pemex is working to lift output at younger oil fields like Ku Maloob Zaap and Chicontepec, but neither is likely to overtake Cantarell before 2012.

Despite modest progress at those fields, they will never emulate Cantarell, which was a lottery win for Mexico when a fisherman spotted its oily bubbles in 1976.

Reuters