(Adds details on Cantarell, capital spending)

MEXICO CITY, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Mexican oil production fell 9.2 percent in January to its lowest level since November 1995 as output from the aging Cantarell oil field continued to dwindle, state oil company Pemex said on Friday.

Mexico pumped 2.685 million bpd in January, down from 2.957 million bpd in the same month a year ago, according to government data.

The giant Cantarell oil field lost its position as Mexico’s largest single oil producer in January to the nearby Ku Maloob Zaap heavy oil complex, Pemex said.

Cantarell pumped 772,000 bpd in January, down from 811,000 bpd in December and down about 38 percent from a year ago.

Ku Maloob Zaap produced 787,000 bpd in January.

The bulk of the decline at the Cantarell complex came from the main field, Akal-Nohoch, which pumped 704,723 bpd in January, down from 739,695 bpd in December.

Pemex has said it plans to hold oil production at 2.75 million bpd in 2009 by expanding output from Ku Maloob Zaap and the onshore Chicontepec project.

The company plans to invest $8.617 billion in its exploration and production business this year, with Chicontepec being the largest single recipient of capital.

Pemex has budged $2.314 billion for Chicontepec this year, where it hopes to drill more than 1,000 wells a year to access the oil locked in an extremely challenging geological formation.

Independent analysts are skeptical that Pemex will be able to replace all of the oil production capacity being lost at Cantarell in the short term.

The fall in oil output dragged down oil exports to 1.366 million bpd in January, compared with 1.434 million bpd a year earlier.

Gasoline imports averaged 329,700 bpd in January, up from 303,870 bpd in January 2008. (Editing by Walter Bagley)