HomeNewsBriefMexican Oil Boss Raises Concerns over Theft of Crude
BRIEF

Mexican Oil Boss Raises Concerns over Theft of Crude

MEXICO / 17 JUN 2011 BY MARTHA MAGUIRE EN

With losses from oil theft growing rapidly, the director of Mexico’s state oil company has called for a new strategy to protect the company's crude.

In an appearance before the lower house of the Mexican Congress, Pemex boss Juan Jose Suarez Coppel said his company suffered losses of over $250 million thanks to fuel theft in the first quarter of 2011, a jump of nearly 265 percent from the same period in 2010. Suárez Coppel said that so far this year they have found 556 clandestine siphons, which is closing in on the figure of 710 for all of 2010.

Suarez Coppel said that Pemex was working to develop monitoring technology that would allow the company to detect and respond to oil theft along isolated pipelines more quickly.

Officials have long fingered the Zetas as the criminal group particularly focused on siphoning gas. The expansion into oil theft by criminal groups reflects a wider diversification of activities, as Mexican gangs have increasingly branched out in extortion, kidnapping, and the marketing of pirate merchandise.

Suarez Coppel’s comments come amid a broader anti-theft effort from the state-owned company. As InSight noted, Pemex recently filed several lawsuits against nine US companies for their alleged involvement in the buying and reselling of the stolen fuel.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ELITES AND CRIME / 3 NOV 2022

The trial of Genaro García Luna, Mexico's public security minister during the presidency of Felipe Calderón, is fast approaching.

EL MENCHO / 5 JAN 2022

Drone attacks in Michoacán, bodies hanging from bridges in Zacatecas, attacks with remotely detonated explosives in Guanajuato, massacres in Jalisco…

GENDER AND CRIME / 21 SEP 2022

Accused drug trafficker Sandra Ávila Beltrán is demanding she be paid royalties for the “Queen of the South” Netflix series.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…