Pemex takes 11 U.S. companies to court for fuel smuggling

Pemex, Mexico’s state-run oil company, is suing 11 U.S. companies for buying up to US$300 million of fuel that was reportedly stolen by drug gangs and smuggled across the U.S.–Mexican border.  The suit was filed in a U.S. district court in Texas.  According to the suit, Pemex claims that the 11 companies either conspired with the Mexican smugglers or unwittingly participated and profited in the trafficking of stolen condensate. In the complaint, the list of alleged offenders included Plains All American Pipeline LP, SemGroup Corp.’s SemCrude subsidiary and Western Refining Inc.  Drug gangs in Mexico have been going after Pemex’s Burgos natural gas field.  The lawsuit states that more than US$300 million worth of condensate has been stolen from the Burgos Field.  The company has also lost gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.  The country of Mexico depends on its state-controlled oil industry for approximately 40% of the government’s annual revenues. (June 1, 2011)