[HoosierRon]

PEMEX Crude Production Drops 13% in April Due to Cantarell Decline

PEMEX, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, reported that crude oil production in April 2008 dropped 13% to 2.767 million barrels per day from April 2007 as output from the Cantarell field declined faster than expected.
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The Cantarell oil field, located in the Gulf of Campeche, is one of the largest oil fields in the world. In 2006, Cantarell produced 1.8 million bbl/d of crude oil, or 55% of the national total. Crude oil production at the field peaked in 2004 at 2.14 million bbl/d, and production will likely continue to decline

Iowa State researchers use fungus to improve corn-to-ethanol process

AMES, Iowa -- Growing microscopic fungus in some of the leftovers from ethanol production can save energy, recycle more water and improve the livestock feed that's a co-product of fuel production, according to a team of researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Hawai'i.

"The process could change ethanol production in dry-grind plants so much that energy costs can be reduced by as much as one-third," said Hans van Leeuwen, an Iowa State professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and the leader of the research project.
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The researchers added a fungus, Rhizopus microsporus, to the thin stillage and found it would feed and grow. The fungus removes about 80 percent of the organic material and all of the solids in the thin stillage, allowing the water and enzymes in the thin stillage to be recycled back into production.
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Allowing more water recycling would reduce the industry's water consumption by as much as 10 billion gallons per year. And it allows producers to recycle enzymes in the thin stillage, saving about $60 million per year.

 

[rhvfd10]

Now in the Mexico case, is the decline in production due to lack of recoverable oil or lack of proper maintenance on the part of Pemex? I have been told by an oil worker I know that Mexico's nationalized oil industry is falling apart.

edit: not that either case would change the reality of needing to minimize the oil imported from Mexico anyway...