Pemex Fuel Imports Surpass Crude Exports for First Time in 36 Years

For at least 36 years Pemex sold more crude oil abroad than it bought refined fuels back. That pattern broke in the first five months of 2026, and the numbers expose a fundamental shift in how Mexico's national oil company operates.

The state oil company exported an average of 431,801 barrels per day of crude between January and May, according to figures reported by Entre Lineas. Over the same period it imported 507,227 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel, and turbine fuel. The gap is not cosmetic. It represents a structural inversion of Mexico's energy trade that is costing Pemex dearly.

On the import side the company spent 1,601 million dollars per month on average during those five months. It earned 1,087 million dollars from crude exports over the same window. The mismatch, roughly six billion dollars annualized, is the kind of number that reshapes a corporate balance sheet and fuels congressional fights over subsidies and debt at a state-owned enterprise already carrying heavy financial obligations.

The divergence traces directly back to a flagship promise of the Morena era. When Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office he pledged to cut crude exports and refine domestically, arguing that Mexico would achieve energy independence by processing its own crude instead of shipping raw material north and buying back gasoline and diesel from US Gulf Coast refineries. The Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco became the flagship of that vision, a multi-billion dollar bet on national self-sufficiency.

Instead the trend lines moved against the plan from both directions. Crude exports have collapsed, falling 35 percent year over year through May and 65 percent compared with 2018, dropping from 1.141 million barrels per day in the first five months of 2018 to just over 431,000 in the same period of 2026. But refined fuel imports have declined at only half that pace, dropping 17 percent annually through May after milder declines of 5 percent in 2024 and 7 percent in 2025. In 2018 Pemex imported 975,001 barrels per day of refined products. In 2026 that figure has fallen to 507,227, a 48 percent reduction, nowhere near enough to compensate for the export collapse.

The damage was compounded by international oil prices pushed higher by the war in Iran. Import values actually rose 1.7 percent year over year even as the physical volume of barrels imported declined. Meanwhile export revenues collapsed by 90 percent compared with 2018. The company has now posted four consecutive years of annual revenue declines, and crude oil production in May stood at just 1.363 million barrels per day, the fourth lowest monthly figure on record.

The refining system is at the heart of the problem. Pemex operated its seven refineries at just 941,150 barrels per day in May, the lowest level since May 2025. More than half of Mexico's refining infrastructure sits idle while foreign suppliers earn billions filling the fuel gap. The Dos Bocas refinery, which began production under the current administration, has operated well below its 340,000 barrel-per-day nameplate capacity. Industry engineers who have visited the facility said the problem is not the crude supply but persistent technical and maintenance issues that have plagued the project since its opening.

Pemex faces the problem with a worsening financial profile. The company reported losses of approximately $5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and its financial debt exceeds $100 billion, making it one of the most indebted oil companies in the world. The Mexican government has stepped in with direct budget transfers and tax relief measures, but those interventions have not reversed the structural decline. With fuel purchases draining cash and crude sales bringing in less every quarter, the company is caught between the government's political priorities and the reality of a balance sheet that gets tighter each year.

Mexico set out to break its dependency on imported fuel. Six years and billions of dollars later, the country is more dependent than ever. The crude keeps flowing out, the gasoline keeps flowing in, and the deficit keeps widening. For international analysts watching Mexico's energy trajectory, the numbers confirm what field data has shown for years: production is declining, the refining expansion has not delivered what was promised, and the trade balance has turned decisively against the country.