UPDATE 2-Mexico presents plan to help deep water oil output

(Recasts; adds details of bill, oil production figures, background on Pemex and Mexico energy policy; adds bylines)

By Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Jason Lange

MEXICO CITY, May 14 (Reuters) - President Felipe Calderon sent a proposal to Congress on Wednesday aimed at boosting the Mexico's flagging oil production by cutting taxes on crude drilled in certain hard-to-reach areas.

Under the bill, state oil monopoly Pemex would pay less taxes on oil pumped out of deep-water fields in the Gulf of Mexico and at the onshore Chicontepec field northeast of the capital.

"It would mean a minimum in (tax) revenue for the state coming from these fields," the text of the bill said.

Pemex believes the deep-water fields could hold massive amounts of oil. The company is counting on these deposits and Chicontepec to eventually help make up for a decline in production in Mexico's huge but aging offshore Cantarell oil field.

Pemex, which must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to rent sophisticated oil platforms capable of drilling more than a half-mile (1 km) beneath the ocean surface, says costs have prevented a big deep-water push.

Energy Minister Georgina Kessel warned last week that Mexico faces an energy crisis within a decade if it does not fix its oil sector. Crude production has fallen to an average 2.91 million barrels per day so far this year from a peak of 3.38 million bpd in 2004.

Calderon sent another proposal to Congress in April to overhaul energy laws in Mexcio, the world's No. 6 producer and a top U.S. supplier.