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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 00:20 GMT | more >>

Mexican oil stash slips for sixth year



By Upstream staff 

Mexico's proved oil reserves fell for the sixth straight year in 2007, state energy monopoly Pemex has said, putting pressure on the government to shore up a flagging industry that supplies a large chunk of US crude.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the figures showed the need for an "objective" debate on oil reform.

Legislators from Calderon's conservative party have pushed for legal changes that would let Pemex use private partners to expedite deep-water oil exploration projects, but the proposal has drawn fierce opposition.

Mexico's proved oil and gas reserves at the end of 2007 dropped to 14.7 billion barrels of crude equivalent from 15.5 billion a year earlier, Pemex Director General Jesus Reyes Heroles told a ceremony at the Gulf of Mexico town of Paraiso to mark the 70th anniversary of Mexico's 1938 oil industry expropriation, Reuters reported.

Mexico's proved oil and gas reserves stood at 30.8 billion barrels at the end of 2001, but have dropped every year since then, data on Pemex's website shows. Exploration spending had stagnated under years of one-party rule up until 2000.

Pemex's proved reserves replacement ratio increased to 50.3% at the end of 2007 from 41% a year earlier. But that means Pemex still is only discovering one barrel of new oil reserves for every two it extracts.

"It's a situation it is imperative to change. It's time for action," Calderon said, after drawing cheers from assembled oil workers by promising not to privatise Pemex.

"The question we should be asking is:‘How are we going to make the most of our oil resources?’. I am appealing to all Mexicans for us to have an open, objective and serene dialogue on the options for strengthening, really strengthening, our oil industry," Calderon said.

Pemex's exploration efforts have been hampered by its huge tax bill, as Mexico used

"The country cannot keep losing opportunities at the cost of the present and future generations," Reyes Heroles said.

Initial seismic tests suggest Mexico could have as much as 29 billion barrels of oil in unconfirmed deep-water deposits.


Wednesday, 19 March, 2008, 02:20 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 19 March, 2008, 02:20 GMT

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