Mexico’s energy ambitions weigh heavily on Pemex

The government’s resource nationalism is aggravating the NOC’s debt position and could yet worsen if also tasked with the decarbonisation shift

As Mexico readies itself for the looming threat of trade tariffs with the US, state oil and gas firm Pemex will be hoping this year is at least an improvement on the last. Oil revenues paid to the government plummeted by 14.6% in 2024, their lowest since 1990 according to the treasury. Upstream output was one factor and, in the first three-quarters of last year, Pemex averaged 1.789m b/d, a drop of 86,000b/d compared with the 2023 average. New fields brought online have helped offset Mexico’s declining mature fields but failed to restore crude output anywhere close to the 2m b/d mark of a decade ago. “Over the years, Pemex has faced challenges which have been marked by a steady decline in it