Pemex says crude output may plummet without reform

MADRID, July 1 (Reuters) - Crude production in Mexico could fall dramatically by 2015 if a reform bill before Congress is not passed, the head of state oil company Pemex said on Tuesday.

"From today's production of around 2.9 million barrels a day (bpd), Pemex's production levels could fall by around 1.2 million bpd by 2015 without this reform," Jesus Reyes Heroles told journalists in Madrid.

Production was not under threat within the term of the current administration, which ends in 2012, he added on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress.

The controversial reform aims to open up Pemex to greater private investment by offering contracts at all levels of crude production in the world's sixth/largest oil producer.

President Felipe Calderon has said that greater private investment is needed to boost Mexico's reserves and to expand refining capacity, in order to cut the country's dependence on imported gasoline.

But opponents of the bill say it amounts to creeping privatisation of Mexico's oil assets, which were nationalised amidst fierce U.S. and British opposition in 1938.

Generations of Mexican school children have been brought up to see Pemex as a symbol of national sovereignty, and previous attempts to increase private investment in activities have floundered.

However, Reyes said the current bill is closer to approval than any of its predecessors.

"We've never been so close with a reform of the oil sector," he added. "We are committed to doing all we can to pass President Calderon's reform bill in the next few months."

A key measure would allow state oil monopoly Pemex to sign performance-based contracts with private firms as a way to use their know-how to reach deepwater deposits without breaching a constitutional mandate giving Pemex sole rights to Mexican crude. (Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by James Jukwey)