Mexico Says Cantarell Field To Begin Decline In 2005 - Bloomberg [View All]

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March 1 (Bloomberg) -- "Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico's state oil monopoly, said it expects production at its largest oil field to decline this year, earlier than previously forecast, and plans to boost investment by more than $1 billion from 2004 to make up for the shortfall at other fields.

Cantarell, which accounted for more than 60 percent of oil production last year, will produce an estimated 2.02 million barrels of oil in 2005, down from 2.11 million barrels per day in 2004, Vinicio Suro, planning director for Pemex's production and exploration unit, said on a conference call with investors.

``That means that we're going to begin the decline of production in Cantarell by around 80,000 or 90,000 barrels of oil'' per day, Suro said.

Pemex plans to invest as much as $11.5 billion this year, up from $10.1 billion in 2004, to boost production in other fields, including exploration of deep-water deposits for the first time, to make up for the Cantarell decline. Pemex has doubled its debt in four years to $45 billion to finance annual investments of about $10 billion."

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