Mexico will likely cut its crude oil production targets for next year, according to Bloomberg, citing a ruling party lawmaker in Mexico. The shift in strategy signals that Mexico’s state-run oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), is still struggling under a mountain of debt. Pemex just dropped its production in its largest offshore field, Maloob, by 30.8% year over year, to 276,000 in July, according to IHS Markit. That is down from nearly 400,000 bpd in July 2019 and 460,000 bpd from April 2018—a high for the field. Although it was understood that Maloob’s production would gradually decline through 2030 as the field depletes, the dropoff was sharper than anticipated. That output reduction in Maloob brought Mexico’s crude production to 1.54 million barrels per day—a level not seen since the 1970s, according to data from Mexico’s National Hydrocarbon Commission. That output loss isn’t going to help Pemex’s dire financial straits. […]