Mexico says New Offshore Oil Field could be Country's Largest

Mexican President Vicente Fox announced new discovery of a deepwater oil field, which is believed to contain 10 billion barrels of crude.

The new field is in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico says it could be bigger than its largest oil field: Cantarell. Production there is said to have declined sharply in recent years.

Mr. Fox made the announcement as figures showed the country's total oil reserves had fallen 2% between 2003 and 2005. Perforation of the well known as "Noxal 1," which is located about 60 miles from the port of Coatzacoalcos on the coast of Veracruz state, started in December. The oil is under 0.6 miles of water and a further 2.5 miles underground.

Visiting the drilling platform, Mr. Fox said: "With Noxal we will begin a new era of oil exploration in our country." The government says its investment in exploration will enable Mexico to maintain its current output in the future.

With at least 3.4 million barrels per day, Mexico is Latin America's largest crude producer ahead of Venezuela and Brazil, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The oil industry provides one third of the Mexican state income. More than half the crude extracted is exported, mainly to the United States.

The state-owned company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is among the biggest players in the international oil market. Mexico is not a member of oil producers' cartel OPEC.