Pemex

Mexican oil company Pemex may be near collapse, due to depletion and a failure to find new reserves, says Businessweek. The company is run as a patronage, not as a serious oil company; any decline in oil prices could prove catastrophic. Pemex has four times as much debt as Exxon Mobil, but far fewer assets. The company’s largest field, Cantarell, may start declining by as much as 14% annually by 2006.