Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum announced measures last month to steady the finances of the state-owned oil company Pemex, which experienced another round of losses this fall.
In September, Pemex announced a third-quarter loss of 161.5 billion Mexican pesos (US$8 billion). Factors contributing to the losses included decreased total sales; increased fixed asset deterioration, especially in hydrocarbon processing plants; and losses on foreign exchange. Pemex’s total sales were 7.7% lower than in third-quarter 2023.
“Due to our passive position in foreign currency, motivated by our current financing, an exchange loss of 130 billion pesos was recorded,” Pemex announced in a financial report. The company blamed a 6.8% depreciation of the Mexican peso against the dollar. Close observers blame the company for skipping evaluations, rushing production and not exploring deepwater regions or unconventional deposits.
The company’s total debt fell to $97.3 billion, reducing it to 2016 levels.
“We have to fix Pemex,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference. With the implementation of a new fiscal regime, dubbed Oil Right for Well-being, “Pemex will be able to keep a greater part of its income to finance its operations.” The plan seeks to reduce inefficiencies, diversify energy sources, and pay down debt while protecting output levels.
Part of the National Strategy for the Hydrocarbons and Natural Gas Sectors, the plan calls for simplifying Pemex’s tax duties so the company pays less to the government. It also merges three tax regimes into two: a general tax rate of 30% and an 11.63% duty on non-associated gas (natural gas produced independently of oil).
Víctor Rodríguez, Pemex’s new boss, has been ordered to reduce costs by 50 billion pesos, in part by eliminating some of the company’s 43 subsidiaries, which Sheinbaum admitted have “complicated” finances. A new Pemex law, expected next February, will seek to eliminate subsidiaries in exploration and production, industrial transformation, logistics and fertilizers. All finances will be concentrated in a single entity: Pemex. The company will be allowed to create new subsidiaries. A refinancing has not been ruled out for 2025, with $6 billion to $7 billion reportedly allocated in next year’s draft budget.
