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NEW YORK -- Mexico, the world's sixth-largest oil producer, hedged almost all of next year's oil exports at prices ranging from $70 to $100 at a cost of about $1.5 billion through derivatives contracts, the Financial Times reported on its front page Tuesday, citing bankers familiar with the deal.

The worldwide economic slump is causing more Mexicans to consider allowing private investment in Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., said Tuesday. “I think that we do see the beginnings of a thaw in the way Mexicans of different political persuasions understand how reforming the energy sector in Mexico is going to be critical, not only in terms of what has happened these past two months in the world economy, but our ability to continue growing,” said Sarukhan, during a visit with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board. “I think that the global slowdown has forced...

Mexico's energy reform just got a shot in the arm. The financial crisis and tanking oil prices puts a premium on private capital to help shore up the struggling industry, dampening a nationalist backlash. But oil firms are unsure if the reform, which was watered down earlier this year following heavy attacks from left-wing politicians, will offer enough to deploy capital south of the U.S. border. The risks are high for both Mexico and the U.S. Mexico will be importing crude within seven years unless it finds and develops new pools of oil fast. This would undermine state revenue and...

Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos has restored 250,000 barrels a day of crude that it was forced to shut in on Sept. 23 because storm-battered U.S. refineries had to cancel crude shipments, Pemex said Thursday. The export problems saturated Pemex's storage facilities, forcing the company to curb production. Pemex said a total of 1.94 million barrels of Maya crude oil were shut in during the period.

Mexico's state oil company says it is temporarily reducing oil production because U.S. refineries damaged by Hurricane Ike have canceled shipment orders. Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, says it has lowered its daily output by 250,000 barrels a day. But the company said this week that it expects production to be back to normal by week's end. Pemex produced an average of 2.75 million barrels a day in August, the latest available output figure. Hurricane Ike shut down or reduced work at more than a dozen refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Seven of those refineries process crude oil from...

Mexican crude production slid to 2.76 million barrels a day in August owing to a steady decline in overall production and temporary production snags. August production was down from 2.78 million barrels a day in July and 2.84 million barrels a day in August, 2007, Pemex reported on Monday. ...pipeline repairs and other operational snags hurt overall production in August, and that output should rise in September.

MINATITLAN, Mexico _ Pungent smoke billows from aging petrochemical plants here. Foul-smelling bluish water gathers in pools outside the walls. Fading paint announces the creaky Lazaro Cardenas refinery, a perfect metaphor for one of the world's biggest and most antiquated state oil companies. Petroleos Mexicanos employs more than 147,000 people and has long operated as a state within a state, with its own hospitals, pensions and integrated business operations. snip----Workers warn that they'll fight downsizing. "The energy reform should not harm the (labor) agreements. If it does, it won't fly," warned Jose Manuel Sanchez Urrita, a 24-year veteran of the...

A bitter debate on how to rescue Mexico's troubled state-owned oil company went directly to the people Sunday as residents of the capital and nine states voted in a nonbinding referendum on President Felipe Calderon's plan to open some portions of the petroleum industry to outsiders. The vote, organized by the opposition Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, has no official bearing on energy legislation making its way through Congress. But opponents of Calderon's reforms hope a decisive "no" vote will force legislators to back off. The balloting was the first of three so-called Citizen Consultation referendums over the next month...

As if the constant flow of illegal aliens and drugs from Mexico were not already a huge problem for the United States, it is about to get worse. When Business Week took notice of Mexico's dwindling oil reserves and failed national oil company, Pemex, in its May 5th edition, it signaled a problem whose significance is as great as the one involving an invading population. "A Slippery Moment for Mexican Oil" was the title, followed by "Output is tanking, but there's fierce opposition to a plan that could reward Big Oil for helping find new reserves." You have to read...

Mexico's April oil output slid to the lowest level since October 1999, underscoring the inability of state-run Petroleos Mexicanos to reverse an output decline that began in 2004. April output was 2.77 million barrels a day, compared with 2.85 million barrels a day

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's state-run oil company said Monday that oil production fell 7.8 percent to 2.91 million barrels a day in the first quarter as current reserves dwindle. Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has struggled with falling reserves, especially at its main Cantarell oil field, and lacks the money and expertise to launch new drilling projects. Pemex only has enough proven oil reserves to last nine years at current production rates. President Felipe Calderon this month proposed an energy reform that would allow more private and foreign investment to jump-start new projects, but opponents argue the bill is a...

MEXICO CITY - A political row in Mexico over an oil reform plan intensified at the weekend as a TV ad compared a firebrand leftist leading a siege of Congress to 20th century dictators Hitler and Mussolini. Funded by a Mexican businessman angry at a 10-day blockade of Congress by opposition left-wing lawmakers, the television ad says the antics of protest leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are endangering democracy in Mexico. Leftists seized Congress podiums on April 10 to block a government proposal to lower barriers to private investment in the oil sector, controlled by the state since 1938. "Who...

MONTERREY, Mexico — For a voting bloc that doesn't control Congress, this nation's main leftist party is doing a good job of running the show. More than a week has passed since Democratic Revolution Party lawmakers draped a huge banner over the dais in the lower house announcing it was "CLOSED," like a construction site without a permit. On Thursday, they chained shut the chamber's doors and their allies in the streets forced senators, also evicted from their chamber, to cut short an attempt to hold a session elsewhere in Mexico City. Lawmakers eventually found alternative locations, reached a quorum...

Mexico's leader sees potential in progress of Petrobras Guillermo Najera, a 42-year-old machine operator at Mexican state-controlled oil company Petróleos Mexicanos, gets paid to do nothing all day. Pemex management can't fire the union worker or transfer him from the ammonia plant in Ciudad Camargo, where he still shows up for work even though the plant stopped production in 2002. "We don't have anything else to do except keep our areas clean," Najera says as he and dozens of other idle workers enter the gates of the plant for the 7 a.m. shift. "I want to go back to work."...

With oil prices at dizzying heights, the world could use as much oil as possible. Don't count on Mexico to help. Mexico's oil output is falling, and the country could cease to be a major oil exporter in a few years. That's bad news for the world -- and for the U.S. in particular. Mexico is one of its top-three sources of foreign oil. If Mexico can't turn things around, U.S. dependence on Middle East oil will grow. Mexican President Felipe Calderón is frantically trying to strike a deal to allow private oil companies to work with state monopoly Petróleos...

Output is declining rapidly, but national pride and politics may block possible fixes. MEXICO CITY -- With crude oil topping $95 a barrel, these should be heady days for Petroleos Mexicanos. Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly, known as Pemex, generated record revenue of about $100 billion in 2007. But at a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the nationalization of Mexico's oil industry last year, Pemex General Director Jesus Reyes Heroles wasn't in a celebratory mood. "The situation of Petroleos Mexicanos is critical and merits immediate attention," the company's top executive said. Indeed, 2007 tapped a gusher of concerns for the...

MEXICO CITY -- Six explosions ripped apart pipelines for Mexico's state oil monopoly early Monday, the company said. The blasts were believed to be sabotage and 12,000 people were evacuated afterward.

At least 4 states lose natural gas source in attacks on key pipelines MEXICO CITY — Hundreds of companies, including multinationals such as Honda and Hershey's, shuttered operations temporarily on Wednesday after a shadowy rebel group claimed responsibility for a series of explosions of key petroleum pipelines. Near-simultaneous blasts carried out just after 1 a.m. Tuesday in central Queretaro state cut off natural gas supplies to at least four states in central Mexico. The region was still reeling from a round of pipeline explosions July 5 in neighboring Guanajuato state. "There can't be fewer than 800 or 1,000 medium and...

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's state oil monopoly is in "critical" condition and needs to boost exploration and seek outside expertise to replenish oil reserves that are currently set to last less than a decade, energy officials said Sunday. President Felipe Calderon, however, said during a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the nation's oil nationalization that there are no plans to privatize the industry and that Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, "will always continue to belong to all Mexicans." Pemex's proven reserves have fallen to the equivalent of 9.3 years of production from 9.7 years in 2005, and daily output declined...

Mexican National Oil Monopoly in Debt Crisis on 69th Anniversary of Its Expropriation MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Depleted reserves, crumbling pipelines, outdated technology and billions of dollars in debt. It doesn't seem much to celebrate when Mexico commemorates the 69th anniversary of the nationalization of its oil monopoly Sunday. In fact, energy experts say Mexico's oil industry needs to launch a rapid rescue plan and stop looking back to its storied past. Government leaders and executives at Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, have been warning about the problems for years. But they haven't taken much action, in large part because the...