On December 24, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) confirmed changes in the leadership of the Production and Exploration division. Octavio Barrera has been appointed as the new interim head. The head of Pemex urged the new official to fulfill the mandate in accordance with the principles of discipline, legality, objectivity, professionalism, honesty, loyalty, impartiality, integrity, accountability, effectiveness, and efficiency that govern public service. This is the second change in leadership in this division this year, following the departure of Néstor Martínez in May, which marked the return of Cid, who had previously held this position during the Romero Oropeza administration. The change was surprising, as his tenure ended amid strong questioning over the sharp increase in debt to suppliers, a factor that has complicated improving production figures. According to the latest Pemex data published yesterday, production has now been declining for 23 consecutive months. This lack of results complicated the executive's stay at the oil company and also the ambitions of Romero Oropeza, who, through Cid, sought to maintain a certain degree of control within Pemex, and was also accused of pushing for the removal of the CEO, Víctor Rodríguez. The reality is that despite the support injected from the previous to the current government, amounting to 3 trillion pesos according to an IMEF calculation, the company continues to lose money and maintains a financial debt close to 100 billion dollars. Octavio Romero also failed to finalize the 21 mixed contracts to increase production announced during President Claudia Sheinbaum's first government report, due to persistent investor distrust in the company's payment commitments and disagreement over the central role the oil company will maintain. While it was unofficially announced that only five contracts were finalized by the end of the year, no official announcement has been made. This is a bad sign for the market after the report of 11.641 million barrels of hydrocarbon production in November, representing an annual decrease of 1.92%. A setback for the former director, Octavio Romero, who retained this strategic area through his ally, Ángel Cid. The state-owned oil company explained in a statement that this appointment was made 'due to the absence of the Exploration and Extraction leadership,' without providing further details on the situation. For the year to date, production amounts to 1.63 million barrels per day, far from the target of 1.8 million.
