Pemex says new Mexico fields hold 2bln barrels of oil
TULA: Mexico's state-owned Pemex oil company said that the new oil fields it discovered two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico could yield more than two billion barrels of oil.
Pemex director Juan Jose Suarez said the Ayatzil-Tekel reserves consisted of heavy crude oil, while those of Tsimin-Xux were light sweet crude.
The oil fields, located in Campeche Sound in southeastern Mexico, "each contain more than one billion barrels of 3P oil reserves," he said on the 72nd anniversary of Pemex's nationalization.
In its latest report on oil reserves, dated January 2009, the company said its 3P reserves -- which indicate proven, probable and possible oil reserves -- amounted to 43.6 billion barrels of oil.
Pemex brings in 40 percent of Mexico's government revenue, but oil production has dropped steadily from 3.3 million barrels a day in 2005 to 2.6 million last year.
President Felipe Calderon said at the anniversary ceremony that government investment in Pemex had increased threefold since 2000 to 20.9 billion dollars this year.