Fuel theft reportedly costing Mexico's Pemex millions

Even though Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed to end fuel theft, mainly from pipelines and popularly known as huachicol, state-owned oil and gas company Pemex has lost about 50bn pesos (US$2.9bn) during the current administration due to pilfering, according to a report. 

News site Latinus reported Monday that, up until the end of the third quarter of 2023, Pemex’s financial reports showed that such losses stood at 13bn pesos last year, while the figure since López Obrador took office in late 2018 stands at about 50bn. 

In its 3Q23 report, Pemex fuel stolen that quarter amounted to 4,700b/d but down from 5,900b/d in the same period 2022. 

According to Latinus, 2022 was the year with the most theft, some 19.8bn pesos reported. In 2019 and 2020, the amounts reported were about 4bn pesos each, while 2021 ended with 6.3bn pesos.