MEXICO CITY: Crude oil exports fell 15.8 percent in April for Mexico’s national oil company Pemex, as the state-run producer is opening up to competition for the first time in decades.
April crude exports totaled 1.034 million barrels per day compared with 1.228 million bpd in March, according to company data.
Crude exports to Asian markets led the decline, by more than 182,000 bpd or about 70 percent, to an average 82,316 bpd.
But exports to Europe also fell sharply, by nearly 40 percent, to total about 183,000 bpd.
Pemex’s crude production in April fell 5 percent from March to 2.201 million bpd.
Crude shipments have fallen nearly 40 percent over the past decade, while production is down about a third over the same period.
Pemex expects 2015 crude output to average 2.288 million bpd.
Mexico’s Congress finalized a historic energy overhaul last year that ended Pemex’s decades-long monopoly on oil production, and allows the company to enter into joint-venture partnerships.
The overhaul aims to boost crude output and exports via significant new streams of private and foreign investment into the long-closed Mexican oil patch.
