March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, said crude and natural-gas reserves last year fell for the 10th straight year in a row.

Proved reserves dropped to the equivalent of 14.3 billion barrels of oil in 2008, President Felipe Calderon said today. Calderon spoke at a ceremony at the company’s Chicontepec development in Puebla state to commemorate the 71st anniversary of Mexico’s expropriation of foreign oil assets.

The decline in reserves comes as output for the Mexico City- based company fell at the fastest rate since 1942 and oil prices plunged more than $100 a barrel from a record last year, slashing $20 billion in potential sales from the company known as Pemex.

In 1938, President Lazaro Cardenas seized the assets of companies that later became Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest oil company. Mexico created Pemex later that year, and prohibited private, non-Mexican companies from exploring or producing oil until last October when Congress revised the law. Pemex remains the only domestic refiner.

The location of a proposed refinery will be announced by April 15, Calderon said today.

Pemex wants to hire companies experienced in deepwater exploration, such as Chevron, Exxon, Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA or BP Plc, to help tap resources in deposits on the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico that may hold 30 billion barrels of crude oil equivalent, enough to supply the U.S. for four years.

Replacing Reserves

Pemex had a reserve-replacement ratio of 72 percent last year, up from 50.3 percent in 2007, Calderon said. The ratio measures an oil company’s ability to keep reserves from dwindling as wells draw down crude and gas from established fields. A 100 percent replacement ratio would mean new deposits are matching the pace of production, keeping reserves unchanged.

Mexico has set a goal of 100 percent replacement by 2012, the end of Calderon’s term. Mexico has enough oil to continue producing at current rates for 10 years, he said.

The company added 1 billion barrels of crude reserves last year.

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