MEXICO: Pemex Seeks $25 Billion Annually For "Gradual" Growth.

BLOOMBERG/    Mexico's Energy Minister Georgina Kessel wants to boost spending by one-third to more than $25 billion a year to meet long-term output targets and a goal of 3.3 million barrels a day by 2024. Pemex's production has slumped to 2.6 million barrels per day between the Cantarell field, the Ku-Maloop-Zaap project and the onshore Chicontepec field. But Pemex “cannot afford an investment increase with the current level of oil prices and the current fiscal load,” says analyst Enrique Gomez.“... the company debt leverage is high and its labor liabilities are high.”

MEXICO: Pemex's Rapidly Declining Oil Production.

NYTIMES/ ANALYSIS /    Mexico's oil production is declining so rapidly that it may begin importing oil in 10 years. Its oil is crucial to American security as well to the nation's prosperity where it accounts for up to 40% of the budget. “It’s not just about energy security but national security, because our neighbor’s economic and political well-being is largely linked to its capacity to produce and export oil,” explains analyst Jeremy Martin. Mexico probably has plenty of oil in the Gulf's deep waters but Pemex lacks the technology and politicians the will to change restrictive laws about foreign investment to get at it.

MEXICO: Pemex Slashes Chicontepec Budget By 22%.

BLOOMBERG/
Pemex cut the proposed 2010 budget for its $11.1 billion Chicontepec field by 22 percent and almost doubled next year’s spending on the aging Cantarell deposit.

Pemex To Review Chicontepec Oil Project.

BLOOMBERG/
Pemex's board will meet soon to reevaluate the $11.1 billion Chicontepec oil project because of inefficient drilling there.

Pemex Production Falls 7.9% In August.

BLOOMBERG/
Pemex said crude output in August fell 7.9 percent to 2.54 million barrels pe day when production at Chicontepec failed to grow as expected.
A year earlier, daily production was 2.76 million barrels. Output from the Chicontepec field fell to 30,706 barrels a day.

More Trouble In Mexico's $11 Billion Chicontepec Oil Project.

BLOOMBERG.
The $11.1 billion onshore Chicontepec oil project has failed to meet targets, Energy Minister Georgina Kessel said. “Chicontepec has not been generating the production we expected and we have to evaluate with Petroleos Mexicanos how the field is working, and our strategy moving forward.”
Chicontepec, which stretches across Mexico’s Puebla and Veracruz states, will only produce 60,000 barrels a day by year's end, down from a forecast of 72,000.