Pemex’s expensive passion for doing it “at home”
Ah, energy self-sufficiency. A dream as laudable as it is, apparently, absurdly expensive. It turns out that for the jewel in the crown, Petróleos Mexicanos, the act of producing gasoline makes the same economic sense as buying a bottle of water at a concert: you know they are watching your face, but thirst (or in this case, narrative) prevails. In the month of November 2025, manufacturing a barrel of fuel in the National Refining System cost the company $103.8. Meanwhile, the same barrel, but with a nice “Foreign Made” stamp, could be imported for the modest amount of $86. A bargain, right? Only a 20.7% extra cost for the privilege of saying “made in Mexico.” A minor detail, surely.
The funniest thing (if by funny we mean tragicomic) is that this differential is not a new accident. It has been installed for years, historically hovering around 10%. But here’s the cool part: the gap has widened even with the launch of the brand new Olmeca refinery and operations in Dos Bocas. You’d think new, modern infrastructure would help close the gap, but apparently in the upside-down world of Pemex, more refineries mean… more opportunities to lose money per barrel! A bold financial strategy, without a doubt.
Why is it so expensive? The magic of inefficiency
The experts, those spoilers who always ruin a good story with data, point out some “small” details. Most of the Mexican refining park has more wrinkles than a subway map during rush hour and operates with the efficiency of a horse-drawn carriage on a Formula 1 track. They generate losses instead of profits, a revolutionary business concept. Luis Miguel Labardini, an energy specialist, adds another ingredient to this cocktail of inefficiency: refineries process heavy crude oil, which is like trying to make fine coffee with ground beans for a pressure cooker. They would need imported light crude oil to function well, which adds another layer of irony: to be self-sufficient in gasoline, they need to import more raw materials. The icing on the cake is that the margin in refining is laughable compared to simply extracting the crude oil and selling it. But who wants to make easy money when you can make your life more complicated?
And of course, this cost festival does not remain in the accounting balances. The impact ends, as always, in the pockets of consumers. A part of that extra cost is transferred to the final price at the pump. The government, in a balancing act, has intervened with agreements so that the blow is not so visible, making Pemex absorb logistics and storage costs. That is, the loss-making company assumes more expenses so that the citizen does not feel the full weight of the disaster. A solution as sustainable as a house of cards in a hurricane.
For those who believe that this is an anecdote, the numbers scream. Between January and September 2025, Pemex accumulated net losses of 45 billion pesos and maintains a monstrous debt of 130 billion dollars. Analysts are clear: the Achilles heel, the black hole that devours cash, is precisely refining. Despite continued federal support (read: injections of money that the public will never see back), the refining division remains steadfast in its mission to prevent the company from generating liquidity. An unwavering commitment to the deficit.
The moral? Sometimes, national pride is priced at 21% of the market value. And that price, one way or another, we all end up paying. Isn’t it a laugh? Well, more like to cry, but with sarcasm.
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