Oil production at Pemex has touched bottom after a decade of decline, according to the head of exploration and production at Mexico’s state-controlled energy group, and a new era of deals with private companies should fuel its recovery. “Things are looking good,” Gustavo Hernández told the Financial Times in an interview, just weeks before the first contracts with private operators are due to be unveiled on May 13. The statement may sound rash — output at what has been Mexico’s sole hydrocarbons producer for nearly 80 years has been sinking inexorably since 2004, when the giant shallow-water Cantarell field was at its height, and the company has already cut its 2015 production forecast once this year. Furthermore, Pemex, the main contributor to the federal budget, is shouldering the brunt of public sector cuts in a government austerity drive as it seeks savings of some $4bn this year. The latest […]