Pemex

Cantarell Field

It is said that Pemex lacks the equipment, technology, and financial means to explore for new reserves in deep water or shale gas; hence, a reform to Mexican law has been put forward by the government.[16][17][18]

In addition to a failing infrastructure, dwindling reserves have created urgency in completing some type of reform. Only 20% of Mexico has been extensively explored for further reserves, and it has been argued that Pemex will need the help of some form of foreign investment to successfully explore new reserves, including in the Gulf of Mexico.[19]

In February 2015, the board approved a $4.16 billion spending cut, pulling the company's budget down 11.5 percent from the 2015 budget approved by Mexico's congress. The company also said it will delay deepwater exploration plans and cut jobs in response to weak oil prices.[20] In December 2019, the company stated that it has discovered a deposit in southeastern Mexico that could produce 500 million barrels of crude which is considered the largest discovery in more than 30 years.[21]

Pemex gas station in Morelia, Michoacán

Taxes on Pemex revenue provide about a third of all the tax revenues collected by the Mexican government.[22] Pemex has a debt of $42.5 billion, including $24 billion in off-balance-sheet debt. The state-owned company pays out over 60% of its revenue in royalties and taxes.[23] Mexico exports crude oil, but imports more expensive gasoline.[24] National Hydrocarbons Commission, created in 2008 by the Mexican Congress to increase regulatory oversight, has increased scrutiny over Pemex in 2012.[25]

As of July 2019, Pemex is the most indebted oil company in the world.[26]

In 1979, Pemex's Ixtoc I exploratory oil well in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history.[27] Pemex spent $100 million to clean up the spill and avoided most compensation claims by asserting sovereign immunity as a state-run company.[28]

Pemex was blamed for a series of gas explosions in Guadalajara.[29]

On September 19, 2012 an explosion at the Pemex gas plant in Reynosa, Tamaulipas killed 30 and injured 46 people. Pemex Director Juan Jose Suarez said that there was "no evidence that it was a deliberate incident, or some kind of attack".[30][31][32]

On January 31, 2013, an explosion occurred at the administrative offices of Pemex in Mexico City. At least 37 people were killed and at least 126 were injured. The cause has not been confirmed. Local media reported that machinery exploded in the basement of an administrative center next door to the 52-story Pemex tower.[33]

On April 1, 2015, a fire occurred on platform Abkatun A in the southern Gulf of Mexico which killed 4 workers.[34][35]

On April 20, 2016, a large explosion and fire at the company's Chlorinate 3 plant in Coatzacoalcos killed at least 28 people.[36]

On September 24, 2016, a fire broke out on the oil tanker "Burgos", off the coast of Boca del Río, Veracruz, forcing all the crew (31 members) to be evacuated safely. The tanker was carrying 80,000 barrels of diesel and 70,000 barrels of gasoline.[37]

On January 18, 2019, an explosion occurred on a pipeline passing through the village of Tlauhuelilpan Hidalgo killing at least 137 people.[38] Several hundred people were gathering around an illegal pipe drain in order to get fuel. Images of the event shows people collecting fuel with buckets and small containers from a waterfall of gasoline. Military and police forces were present during the event for several hours before the explosion but were unable to stop the people from stealing fuel. The pipeline was not closed on time even after the fuel drain was reported.[39][40]

In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department reported that some U.S. refineries had bought millions of dollars' worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines. Criminals, especially drug gangs, tap remote pipelines and sometimes build their own pipelines to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of oil each year. One oil executive has been charged and has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. The U.S. Homeland Security Department will return $2.4 million to Mexico's tax administration—the first money seized during a binational investigation into smuggled oil that authorities expect to lead to more arrests and seizures. The President of Houston-based Trammo Petroleum is set to be sentenced in December after pleading guilty in May.[41][42]

There have been various allegations of corruption in Pemex for over a decade. These range from political contributions to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (over $200 million), "no show" jobs -- individuals who receive a salary while performing no duties whatsoever -- various forms of fraud, embezzlement, and even under-the-table fuel sales. It has been estimated these various forms of corruption contribute to the loss of over $1 billion a year.[43]

Pemex has a long history of alleged violation of human and labour rights regarding engineers, unrightfully considered to be "trusted workers" who have tried to unionize since 1995 and succeeded, after several repression episodes, in doing so in 2008 and 2009, although at a high human cost.[44] This included the death of a person who was refused medical service at one of Pemex's hospitals because his son had just been sacked for belonging to this union, the Unión Nacional de Técnicos y Profesionistas (shorthand UNTyPP).[45] It also included forcing union members to resign from the Union from their hospital beds, as happened to three cancer patients in 2009. Up to date, and in spite of pressure by the Mexican Congress, the International Labour Organization, the Global Compact, the Industrial Global Union and thousands of citizens all over the world, workers sacked in 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 haven't been all reinstated nor has there been any other reparation.[46][47] Pemex has never acknowledged these violations of human rights.

On November 10, 2019, the institution suffered a cyber attack, and its computers were infected with DoppelPaymer ransomware.[48]

A Pemex gas station in Rancho Salvador Sol Torres, Jalisco, Mexico.

Odebrecht is a Brazilian conglomerate that like Pemex also operates in the field of petroleum. Back in 2010-2012, Emilio Lozoya Austin was part of the PRI's team supporting Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) in his presidential campaign. After EPN won the elections, Lozoya was promoted to director of Pemex, a role he in which served for most of EPN's presidency. In 2017, Brazilian newspaper O Globo claimed that Odebrecht helped finance EPN's presidential campaign, by giving $10 million to Emilio Lozoya as a bribe during times close to the 2012 elections. Soon after EPN won the elections in 2012, Lozoya became a director of Pemex, and Odebrecht "won" huge contracts from Pemex and the Mexican government.

The news of the controversy surfaced in 2017,[49] revealing Lozoya bought a $38 million house with a single payment even before he was named a director of Pemex. Such a house did not fit with his salary at the time.[50] In October 2017, it was confirmed by the presidency that EPN himself also met with Odebrecht four times during his presidential campaign. This directly tied EPN into the scandal, albeit EPN claimed not to have received any bribes.[51][52] A document from Brazil reported Lozoya received $5 million in November 2014.[53]

Santiago Nieto, in charge of the Fiscalía Especializada para la Atención de los Delitos Electorales (FEPADE), an office in charge of investigating electoral crimes, was controversially fired soon after the Odebrecht scandal began. He was said to be receiving too much pressure from EPN and Lozoya to stop the investigation.[54] The firing was criticized by ex-president Felipe Calderon's wife and independent 2018 presidential candidate Margarita Zavala.[55]

President EPN said Santiago's restitution fate depended on the Mexican Senate.[56] The organization Borde Politico had published weeks before that 116 out of the 128 Mexican senators were incompetent.[57]