Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico’s state-run oil and gas monopoly, expects its non-associated natural gas to become almost half of its yearly production by 2006. Pemex has a goal to produce 7 Bcf/d by 2006, with 15% from new deposits, it said Tuesday.

At the present time, Pemex is producing 4.4 Bcf/d, and 70% of it is associated with crude oil. By the middle of the decade, however, expansion of the prolific Burgos gas fields in the northeastern part of the country, as well as other discoveries, could bring the crude oil amount down as much as 56%. Non-associated gas would then account for 44%.

However, some of the expected results are pinned on increased gas production with private investment and contractors. Earlier this year, President Vicente Fox and his Energy Ministry introduced multiple-service contracts (see Daily GPI, Aug. 7). Pemex plans to tender up to 10 contracts following bidding scheduled in November. A Pemex spokesman said there has been a lot of interest from companies outside of Mexico, with most of the queries coming from the United States. Pemex expects the companies that participate to obtain internal rates of return as high as 15%.

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