Mexico’s state-run oil concern is postponing some deep-water exploration projects in response to a steep drop in global crude prices, the company’s director said on Wednesday.
Emilio Lozoya, head of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, also said there will be personnel cutbacks at the company, with details to be made known in the coming weeks.
“There are concrete projects for exploration in some deposits in deep water, not in all of them, but those at greatest risk … if we have not started, they will be postponed,” Lozoya said in comments to local radio.
The announcement was the latest bad news for Mexico’s oil sector, which has been hit by crude prices’ slide to a near-six-year low in January, even as the country embarks on ambitious energy reforms that aim to modernize the industry by allowing private investment for the first time in decades.
From a high of more than $100 a barrel, the value of Mexican export crude sank below $40 earlier this year. On Tuesday it was trading at $50.57 a barrel, about $25 below the level where analysts say the country’s unconventional exploration and development projects can be profitable.
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