Mexico's state-run energy giant has requested some 33 billion U.S. dollars in investment to maintain its production after the sharp decline in a main oil field, according to a study published Tuesday.

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is targeting a 3.1-million-barrels per day (bpd) production until 2009, something analysts describe as difficult without substantially larger investment than that currently planned.

The Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico produces 2 million bpd at present, and official Pemex forecasts say it will produce only 877,000 bpd in 2015.

But private sectors estimate that if Pemex produces oil at its current rates, all its reserves will be used up by 2010.

The report also said Pemex had reduced crude exports to 1.7 million bpd in the first quarter of this year, 14.5 percent lower than the 2.2 million bpd in the first quarter of 2006.

Pemex's crude oil earnings fell to 7.3 billion dollars in the first quarter, down 19.3 percent from the first quarter of 2006.

The average price of Pemex's export oil was 47.34 dollars a barrel in the first quarter, down 2.77 dollars from the same period of 2006.

Oil production was 3.344 million bpd in the first quarter of 2007, down 186,000 bpd from the same period a year earlier.

Source: Xinhua