Mexico's Pemex under fire over spending on big field

Mexican state-run oil company Pemex is spending heavily on the Chicontepec oil field viewed as the least potentially profitable of current projects, Mexico's oil regulator says.

Pemex spent $1.98 billion on the Chicontepec project in 2011. It represents 12 percent of the company's total production and exploration budget and 86 percent of its exploration budget Mexico, the world's seventh oil producer and a major exporter to the United States, could become an oil importer in the coming years if it cannot replace a sharp drop in output from major oil fields with new discoveries.



Source: Reuters