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Since 20th December , the federal government launched a plan to fight fuel theft in Mexico , detecting the complicity of authorities from Mexican Petroleums (Pemex) in a stolen fuel distribution network. As a consequence, three public servants were referred to the Federal Public Ministry and the government ordered armed forces – 4,000 elements - to take control of the company’s most strategic facilities.
When revealing the Joint Plan for the Protection of Pemex’s Strategic Facilities , in which 15 government bodies such as the Military, Navy, the National Intelligence Center, and the Attorney General’s Office were involved , President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed that, for almost 20 years , former company directors had been fully aware that certain Pemex workers were directly involved in the theft of hydrocarbons.
This type of crime, he added, resulted in 600 illegal fuel tappings a day , representing losses for more than 60 billion pesos . He added that, in the past three years, fuel theft has cost the nation around 147 billion pesos .
“This is fuel theft as seen from above. How could they manage to distribute more than a thousand pipes a day? This is what I want to point out. There is a hypothesis which suggests that, out of the dark number, only 20% happens through a direct tapping of pipelines, and that most fuel theft is conducted through a massive scheme that involves authorities and a distribution network. We are not simply talking about the illegal tapping of pipelines, but a large-scale scheme of fuel theft and distribution ,” he stressed.
The President of Mexico explained that around 80% of fuel theft allegedly takes place from the inside of Pemex’s facilities through a distribution network in which company workers are involved.
López Obrador revealed that the equivalent of 600 fuel-carrying tanker trucks was stolen each day last year, as well as during 2018, which translates into 3,963 gallons (worth MXN$200 million) stolen per day.
Backed by government secretaries who are currently working on the protection plan, López Obrador commented that the federal government had intervened in the Logistics and Monitoring departments of Pemex , were authorities ascertained that some oil company workers had violated standards in not closing pipeline valves once large amounts of fuel spillage were detected.
“I have no evidence to prove that the directors of Pemex were involved in fuel theft operations. What I do know is that they were fully aware of what was happening. I have no doubt that they knew because we have statistics. The company hired high-end systems to monitor the pipelines and measure fluid pressure,” he indicated.
The government of López Obrador has taken control of some areas that were reserved to the oil union. The Minister of Interior Olga Sánchez Cordero contacted the union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps to notify that the new Mexican administration would have zero tolerance for fuel theft among company workers.
The government also detected that certain companies had purchased stolen fuel for the construction of major works through clandestine deposits .
The attorney general Alejandro Gertz Manero added that those who controlled the pipelines at Pemex were fully aware of the entire operation.
Ever since the plan was implemented, three Pemex workers have been arrested and referred to the Federal Public Ministry.
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