Mexico’s highly touted Ixachi and Quesqui natural gas fields are producing below their stated targets amid historically high natural gas prices, according to the latest data from upstream regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH).

Mexico production

Discovered in 2017 by state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Ixachi had been forecasted to reach peak production of 638.5 MMcf/d by 2022.

As of July, the field was producing 200 MMcf/d, CNH data show.

The Quesqui field, meanwhile, was supposed to hit 410 MMcf/d by 2021, according to Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza. As of July, it was producing 254 MMcf/d.

The latest figures come at a time of considerably higher gas prices than in 2019, when CNH approved Pemex’s development plan for Ixachi.

In June 2019 when the plan was...