Mexico oil exports plummet

Mexican oil exports plunged 18.2% in April to levels unseen since 1990 outside hurricane seasons, in more grim news for a key economic motor relied on for a major chunk of government revenues.

Crude export volumes tumbled to 1.177 million barrels per day as yields at Mexico’s aging Cantarell field continued to plummet, state oil monopoly Pemex said today.

Oil production declined 4.2% year-on-year to 2.642 million bpd in April, the fourth month in a row that it has been below a targeted level of 2.7 million bpd, according to a Reuters report.

Oil revenues are a key plank of Mexico’s economy and the slide in exports was the latest gloomy data for a country already knocked into recession by a drop in US demand for its factory exports.

Tourism revenues have also been dented this year by the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Upstream Online