MEXICO'S PEMEX MULLS SCRAPPING EXPLORATION PROJECT 


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

                                       
    Copyright 1997 by Reuters
    Fri, 14 Nov 1997 23:50:14 PST

         VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Mexico's state-run
oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said on Friday it was
considering scrapping an exploration project in oil-rich Tabasco
state due to a peasant protest in the area.
         Hundreds of peasants have blocked access to the Jose Vernet
oil field in the southeastern state since Oct. 14, according to
Ricardo Palacios Calva, Pemex sub-director of exploration and
production for the southern region.
         While the financial losses from the blockade so far are
small -- just 36 million pesos ($4.4 million) -- Pemex is
considering abandoning the site permanently and scrapping a
project worth 150 million pesos ($18.6 million) to drill deeper
wells there.
         "The blockade ... is cancelling the prospect of our
investment in the area to increase our hydrocarbon reserves. We
are considering pulling out altogether because the equipment we
have on the field is inactive," he said.
         Peasants in the area want the oil monopoly to pay them for
damage allegedly caused to their homes and fields by the oil
company's activities.
         Palacios did not say how much production could be affected
if the oil company decided to abandon the field, but it will
only be a drop in the bucket for a company that produces some 3
million barrels of crude oil a day.
 
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