Pemex to Increase Offshore Drilling Rigs to 60

Petroleos Mexicanos, Latin America’s largest oil producer, plans to increase the number of leased offshore drilling rigs to 60 from 52 as the state-owned company requests a bigger budget to arrest output declines.

“We need more rigs than the ones we’re using,” Carlos Morales, director of exploration and production, said yesterday in a telephone interview. It is “likely that we’re going to renew all the contracts that are expiring this year.”