Mexican President Felipe Calderon said he’d consider selling shares in Petroleos Mexicanos as part of a bill he plans to submit to “modernize” the state oil company and boost production.

Calderon, in an interview with Bloomberg television in New York, said the new legislation he plans to present to Congress when it convenes in September would try to remake Pemex along the lines of Petroleo Brasileiro SA in Brazil or Norway’s Statoil ASA.

“My plan is to try another legal reform in order to modernize Pemex in a way similar to what Petrobras did ten years ago,” Calderon said. “It’s going to be difficult, but I think we are moving the perception of public opinion of how important it is to modernize the enterprise.”

Calderon said Mexico will be able to reverse six years of declining oil output as Pemex, Latin America largest oil producer, starts awarding performance-based contracts with foreign companies. Pemex will carry out the first round of such contracts in August.

Pemex will invest about $23 billion this year to boost oil production after output fell to 2.576 million barrels a day in 2010 from a daily average of 3.4 million when Calderon was Energy minister in 2004.

Pemex’s budget for investments has surged 145 percent to $23 billion since 2006. Production has fallen 19 percent in the same period and proven reserves declined from 16.5 billion barrels in 2006 to 13.8 billion barrels last year, according to a company presentation posted on its website.