The world oil glut: is Mexico's cut 25%?

Amid fresh reports that Mexico's oil sales have dropped by about half, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state oil enterprise, is playing down news stories about a major cutback in oil production, Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell writes. According to the stories, some based on Pemex informants, production is around 2 million barrels daily, down some 700,000 barrels, or about 25 percent. Pemex will not confirm that tally, but does not deny that production is down.

That figure, however, equals roughly the total loss of sales since early June , when exports were 1.5 million barrels daily. Although official Pemex totals on exported oil for June are not yet available, oil specialists ex pect them to show the dropoff.