Mexico City — Oil production by private companies in Mexico hit a record high in November, but the figure is still well below their goal for 2021.
Private companies produced an average 73,500 barrels of crude per day in November, up 7.7% on October and 41% year-on-year, according to the country’s hydrocarbons commission CNH.
But to November, private companies had only achieved 45% of their production target of 166,000 barrels per day for end-2021, the Mexican Association of Hydrocarbons Company (AMEXHI) said.
The production increase was headed by Fieldwood Energy and its Mexican partner Petrobal, which is owned by entrepreneur Alberto Baillères, after beginning production at its Ichalkil and Pokoch offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico following months of delays.
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The oilfields operated by Perenco, ENI and Hokchi Energy account for more than 60% of production.
But private production is facing problems in one of the main producing fields, Miztón, operated by Italian oil major ENI, with production falling to its lowest level since November due to the lack of a tanker vessel to stabilize pressure in the well, but which finally arrived on January 2.
Mexico produces 1.65 million barrels per day of crude, of which 96% is produced by state oil company Pemex, with the rest pumped by the private sector.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised to respect the oil production contracts that were auctioned during the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto as part of the sector’s opening up to the private sector following the 2013 energy reform.
López Obrador has set a production target for private companies of 280,000 barrels per day by the end of his administration in 2024.
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