Analysts watch, wince as Mexico's oil supply dwindles
They warn of an irreversible output decline.
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
Published September 24, 2007
MIAMI - When left-wing guerrillas in Mexico bombed several pipelines in simultaneous attacks this month, it sent a shudder through that country's large oil and gas industry.
The threat of economic sabotage by a shady group known as the Revolutionary Popular Army EPR poses a major new headache for the Mexican government. But Mexico's energy industry problems run far deeper than terrorist attacks on its infrastructure, analysts say, and have major implications for U.S. oil supply.
"Mexico's oil production is in decline. There's probably no way to stop it," said Mike Rodgers, an expert at one of the top oil industry consulting firms, PFC Energy in Houston.
Mexico is the second largest supplier of oil to the United States (about 1.5-million barrels a day). But output from its major fields is dwindling fast, according to official figures from the state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The country's known oil reserves will run out in nine years, the government says, potentially undermining the nation's oil-dependent budget.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/24/Worldandnation/Analysts_watch__wince.shtml