Mexico’s Pemex posts sharply lower net loss in 1st half of 2021

Mexico City, Jul 28 (EFE).- State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, one of the world’s most indebted oil companies, on Wednesday reported a net loss of $1.2 billion (23 billion pesos) in the first half of 2021, down 96.2 percent from the same period of last year.

In presenting the company’s latest earnings report, Pemex Chief Executive Officer Octavio Oropeza said he had more “good news” to announce and also highlighted an increase in oil production.

Pemex said total sales came in at $33 billion, up 42.8 percent from the same six-month period of 2020.

Both domestic sales and exports were sharply higher, rising 34 percent (to $17.1 billion) and 54.4 percent (to $15.8 billion), respectively.

Relative to the first half of 2020, gross income soared by 201 percent to $11.5 billion and operating income climbed 26.4 percent to $8 billion.

The oil company said income before taxes and duties rose to $5.7 billion, up 121.6 percent from January to June 2020.

According to the report, total crude oil production averaged 1.73 million barrels per day in the first half of 2021, an increase of 1.2 percent over the first six months of 2020.

Natural gas output, meanwhile, climbed 1.6 percent to an average of 3.7 billion cubic feet per day during that same period.

Pemex’s total liabilities, which include short-term and long-term financial debt, taxes and duties payable and obligations for its reserve for employee benefits, came in at $207.6 billion on June 30, down 5.1 percent from Dec. 31, 2020.

Pemex’s financial debt totaled $115.1 billion on June 30, up 0.9 percent compared to the end of last year, mainly due to temporarily used short-term financing.

On a quarterly basis, Pemex posted a net income of $721 million in the second quarter, compared with a $1.9 billion net loss in the April to June period of 2020.

Pemex posted a net loss of $21.4 billion in 2020 due to a coronavirus-triggered plunge in oil prices, a period that the company has acknowledged was the “worst crisis in its history.” EFE

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