El Financero Newspaper Claims Cantarell, Ku-Maloob-Zaap To Decline In Tandem By 2010 - OGJ

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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 -- Mexico will face difficulties in producing crude oil over the coming 2 years, according to a media report, which claims that Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) fields will decline simultaneously in 2010. "As we move toward that scenario," said El Financero newspaper, "Cantarell's decline became more pronounced in 2007, when it stopped producing an average of 304,000 b/d. It declined by 234,000 b/d in 2006 and 101,000 b/d in 2005, the paper reported.

According to the paper, that reduction contributed to a drop of 174,000 b/d in the country's total production in 2007, compared with a decline of 78,000 b/d in 2006 and 50,000 b/d in 2005. Although KMZ's oil production average increased by 123,400 b/d in 2007, representing a 30.6% increase over 2006, it is not offsetting much of Cantarell's decline because its increase made up for only a third of the decline in Cantarell, El Financero said.

Officials at state-owned Pemex expect KMZ to reach its highest production level in 2010, averaging 800,000 b/d of crude oil. Thereafter, its decline will begin, along with that of Cantarell.

Pemex officials commented that Chicontepic, comprising onshore wells, could compensate for part of the decline in both fields. It currently produces 100,000 b/d, which could swell to 500,000 b/d by 2010. "Nevertheless," El Financero said, "because of the characteristics of the terrain where Chicontepec is located, crude oil extraction will be very difficult."

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http://www.ogj.com/display_article/319499/7/ONART/none/DriPr/1/Mexico-oil-production-decline-to-increase-in-2010/