Mexico's state-run oil company said Monday that oil production fell 7.8 percent to 2.91 million barrels a day in the first quarter as current reserves dwindle.

Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has struggled with falling reserves, especially at its main Cantarell oil field, and lacks the money and expertise to launch new drilling projects. Pemex only has enough proven oil reserves to last nine years at current production rates.

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Brazil Field Smaller Than Claimed, Credit Suisse Says

By Joe Carroll

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Carioca prospect may have 98 percent less crude than a figure cited by the country's oil agency, Credit Suisse Group said, challenging claims that the field is the biggest-ever discovery outside the Middle East.

Haroldo Lima, director of Brazil's National Oil Agency, sent shares of Petroleo Brasileiro SA and other Carioca stakeholders higher when he said April 14 that the offshore field may hold 33 billion barrels of oil. That figure is ``way off the mark,'' Mark Flannery, a Credit Suisse analyst in New York, said today on a conference call with clients.

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No need for further Saudi capacity boost yet-Naimi

Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:33am EDT

ROME, April 19 (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has no plans to embark on further capacity expansion as long-term oil demand forecasts fall and alternative fuel supplies rise, the Saudi oil minister told industry newsletter Petroleum Argus.

The holder of the world's largest oil reserves sees no need to go beyond its 2009 capacity target of 12.5 million barrels per day "at least up to 2020," Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said.