Mexico slows decline in oil reserves

Mexico's government oil commission says the country's probable and possible oil and natural gas reserves dropped again in 2016, but the pace of decline appears to have slowed.

Unproven but probable reserves known as "2P" decreased 5.7 percent to 16.8 billion barrels of crude equivalent. Unproven but possible reserves known as "3P" were down 1.1 percent to 25.9 billion barrels.

Mexico's proven reserves of oil and gas had dropped a startling 21 percent in 2015 to 10.24 billion barrels, compared to 13 billion barrels at the end of 2014.

As of Jan. 1, 2017, proven reserves amounted to about 9.2 billion barrels, a drop of about 10.5 percent compared to the previous year.