Mexico’s oil and gas reserves dropped by 21.3% last year, according to the country’s regulator.
It comes as state-run oil company Pemex cut back on investment because of plunging oil prices.
According to the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), proven reserves fell to 10.242billion barrels of oil equivalent in January, compare with more than 13billion the year earlier.
The new estimate for so-called 1P certified reserves was set on January 1, 2016, and covered oil and gas fields believed to have a 90 percent chance of being extracted with existing technology.
Proven reserves of crude oil fell 21.3 percent to 7.6 billion barrels, while reserves of gas fell 17.3 percent to 12.7 billion cubic feet, according to the CNH data.
While Pemex remains the country’s only oil and gas producer, a sweeping energy overhaul finalized in 2014 ended the company’s nearly 80-year-old monopoly and private firms are expected to enter the market for exploration and extraction in coming years.
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