The head of the Mexican Association of Oil Services Companies (AMESPAC), Rafael Espino, stated that payment delays from the state oil company Pemex constitute "an abuse." Pemex announced it will reschedule payments to its long-term suppliers after settling debts for 2025. The Olmeca refinery in Dos Bocas, Tabasco, was projected with a budget of $8.9 billion over a three-year construction period to process 340,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Despite multiple criticisms of the calculations, then-Energy Secretary Rocío Nahle proceeded with the strategy unchanged. Now, more than five years into its construction—and after a symbolic inauguration in 2022—the refinery is only just beginning operations and faces difficulties sustaining its production. Its head, Rafael Espino, told LPO that the construction of Olmeca ended with a cost overrun of $25 billion, which is exactly the increase in the debt with suppliers at the beginning of the year. Over the past year, the debt owed by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to its service provider companies has been the biggest headache, not only due to financial pressure but also due to its inability to execute urgent projects to get out of its commercial and financial debt. According to official data, by September of this year, the commercial debt already exceeds 500 billion pesos, mainly escalating over the past year, despite the efforts of the past and current government to rescue the oil company through various mechanisms. Unofficial reports indicate this means Banobras will pay the suppliers and Pemex will owe the bank that debt over eight years, which will imply more debt. Furthermore, a payment scheme for 2024 suppliers is still pending, as the head of AMESPAC ensures that debt is still active, implying payments of up to 12.5 billion pesos. Around 17 million was financed at the expense of suppliers. By September, it had processed 94,000 barrels of crude oil daily, producing 192,000 barrels. In 2024, at the end of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's government, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit used the fiscal deficit, raising it to its highest level in 6%, to finish the emblematic works of his administration, including Olmeca. In that scenario, Pemex also recorded the largest increase in its debt with suppliers, which has since resulted in 15,000 documented dismissals, according to AMESPAC information. Now the government has established a payment scheme through Banobras, however, it contemplates a credit of only 25 billion pesos, that is, half of the total debt. Pemex returned to the red: it loses 61.2 billion pesos and its debt exceeds USD 100 billion. This is the payment of invoices for services rendered this year, and according to government statements, it will be rescheduled in the long term. "That undue cost has been taken from suppliers. The explanation lies in the new Dos Bocas refinery. At least that is the complaint made by the Mexican Association of Oil Services Companies (AMESPAC)."
