Mexico’s Pemex chief: Cantarell oil field output to drop 14 percent a year

MEXICO CITY: The chief executive of Mexico state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said Wednesday the company expects production at its Cantarell oil field to decline by an average of 14 percent a year between 2007 and 2015.

Speaking to members of the Senate Energy Committee, Luis Ramirez Corzo said the average annual decline is equivalent to about 150,000 barrels a day.

The offshore Cantarell, Mexico’s largest source of crude oil, began declining in 2005 from a record 2.13 million barrels a day in 2004.

Ramirez Corzo said output at Cantarell is expected to average 1.8 million barrels daily this year. Pemex is aiming to substitute Cantarell’s declining output with production from other projects under way, he said.

AP