Tokyo, July 2: Mexico's main oil development projects remain on track although the plunge in global crude oil prices is forcing the country to partly review its investment programme, the head of Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly said.Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) director-general, Adrian Lajous told a symposium in Tokyo that details of adjustments to its spending plans would be made clear by August when Pemex's capital projects for 1999 to 2000 are decided.
"Clearly there is a need for adjustments. But the type of adjustments that will be carried out will be those that probably are more concentrated in the higher-risk, longer-term projects," Lajous said.
"And we will do this in order to mainly save the core projects that define the overall investment strategy of the Mexican oil industry."
Lajous was referring to the megaprojects of the Cantarelloil field in the Gulf of Mexico, the natural gas-rich Burgos Basin in northeastern Mexico, and large refinery projects.
With nearly 40 per cent of governmentincome generated last year by Pemex, aplunge in global crude prices has hit Mexico hard, knocking its 1998 spending plans off course.
Lajous was speaking at a two-day symposium on the promotion of cooperation between Latin America and Japan.
Mexico was the only Latin American country from which Japan imported crude oil on a regular basis in the last fiscal year which ended March, government data shows.
However, some Japanese importers have made it clear recently that they plan to stop buying Mexican crude. They cited the price factor and said it was no longer economically attractive to buy from Mexico.
The decision led to the disbandment at the end of last month of a consortium of Japanese oil firms which has acted as the sole agent of crude imports from Mexico.
Imports from now would be made individually by each Japanese company, industry sources said.
Government data shows that no crude oil was imported from Mexico in May.Pemex's Lajous told Reuters in an interview on last Tuesday that Japan,nevertheless, remained an important market for Mexico.
Japan imported roughly 24.5 million barrels of crude oil from Mexico in fiscal 1997/98, or some 1.5 per cent of total crude imports.
Lajous did not meet Japanese oil company officials during his visit to Japan, a Pemex official travelling with him said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
