Mexico’s oil monopoly needs international help

PETROLEOS MEXICANOS, Mexico’s monolithic, government-backed petroleum company, is one of the largest oil producers in the world. It’s also in deep trouble.

The firm, known as Pemex, is a listless, legally mandated monopoly propped up on foggy-brained justifications about national pride and sovereignty. Pemex’s bureaucracy is impenetrable, the leader of its union lives extravagantly and, in a recent poll, about 80 percent of Mexicans associated the firm with corruption. The state, meanwhile, skims massive amounts of money off the top to fund a third of the national budget, and the company hasn’t managed to use what’s left over to break into deep-water oil extraction or to ramp up oil and natural gas production from onshore shale rock. Though the firm still produces a lot of crude, it is $60 billion in debt.

Fuente: Washington Post