National oil company Petróleos Mexicanos is cutting back on drilling rigs to bring its costs more in line with languishing oil prices, much to the dismay of some rig leasers who didn’t anticipate Mexico’s sole petroleum producer would move so quickly and aggressively. Pemex is also renegotiating rates on rigs that it wants to keep under contract as the oil company slashes $4 billion from this year’s investment budget and prepares for more austerity next year, officials at the oil firm said. “The idea here was not to strangle or squeeze our suppliers, it is to get through a very hard time which we hope at some point is going to even out,” said Pemex’s chief procurement officer Arturo Henríquez Autrey. He estimates the firm’s rig leases have fallen to 41 from 61, with shallow-water jack-up rigs cut the most. Pemex is spending about $1.8 […]