Pemex warns on production fall

Pemex, the Mexican state oil monopoly said on Wednesday that output from its largest oil field will begin to fall next year, but that the decline should be made up for by production from new fields.

The company’s head of Exploration and Production, Carlos Morales, said that overall output would grow by 80,000 barrels per day despite a drop of 70,000 barrels per day from the Cantarell field.

The Cantarell field was discovered in the late 1970s and has been producing the lion’s share of Mexico’s oil since then.

In February, Mr. Morales predicted that 2006 oil output from the company would total 3.8 million barrels per day, but some analysts are unsure that Pemex will be able to meet that goal.

On Tuesday, Pemex reported that its quarterly sales had risen by 14 percent to 221.3 billion pesos ($20.5 billion) on the rising price of crude oil.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were up 28 percent to 153.2 billion pesos ($14.2 billion). Net profits were 1.9 billion pesos ($200 million).

The company has said that it needs billions of dollars in investments and a law allowing foreign joint ventures in order to look for new deep-sea sources of oil to replace losses in the Cantarell field.