The illegal diesel that makes us cry… with laughter (or helplessness)
Ah, diesel smuggling, that business so “flourishing” that it even surpasses soap operas in creativity. According to data from the Citizen Energy Observatory (which, by the way, is not a group of gossipy neighbors), the fiscal huachicol tripled in one year. Yes, you read correctly: from 19.2 thousand barrels per day in 2023 to 59.1 thousand in 2024. Reason? Well, why settle for stealing when you can evade taxes in style?
False documents and disguised diesel: the art of deception
It turns out that for every 10 liters of diesel that enter Mexico, two do so in a “creative” way. That is, with false documents or declared as if they were, I don’t know… mineral water? inflatable toys? The imagination of these fraud geniuses has no limits. Francisco Barnés de Castro, director of the organization, explained it in an ITAM webinar, where there was surely more suspense than in an episode of La Casa de Papel.
The black market already controls 17% of apparent diesel consumption in the country. Congratulations! Meanwhile, the government stopped collecting 1,310.5 million dollars in 2024, almost four times more than the previous year. And you know what the funniest thing is? That smuggling surpasses traditional theft in Pemex pipelines. Modern criminals prefer fake paperwork to getting their hands dirty on picket lines!
Pemex, the eternal loser (and we are not talking about football)
While the huachicoleros celebrate, Pemex cries in a corner: 1,099 million dollars in losses due to theft. Of course, organized crime continues to be “selective”: they prefer diesel because it is easier to place on the illegal market. Gasoline, on the other hand, requires threatening gas stations, and that is a lot of work. How thoughtful!
And if that were not enough, smuggled diesel is usually adulterated. So, if your truck starts coughing like a chain smoker, you know why. According to the US Treasury Department, this fuel is sold at gas stations controlled by crime or at clandestine stops. Does anyone else miss the old days when the worst thing that could happen on a road was an expensive mango stand?
Moral? If legal diesel was already expensive, now it turns out that illegal diesel is also more expensive for all of us. Long live efficiency!
Are you as angry as we are? Share this gem of the underground economy and continue exploring how crime beats the system. #DieselGate
