The oil company does not place the theft of LP gas particularly among the main risks that it includes in its financial reports, but admits that the theft of fuel from its facilities has grown despite the efforts of the federal administration. During the six-year term, the number of openings that were made illegally to the company’s pipelines to extract this fuel has grown by 1,027%. This percentage is obtained by comparing the clandestine taps reported in 2018 and those that were registered during 2022, when the number grew to 2,503.
And the figures reported during this year indicate an upward trend in the area: Last March became the month in which the most clandestine intakes for the extraction of LP gas were reported, with 390.
The theft of LP gas, a fuel that is transported through pipelines in a liquid state and that is easier to handle than other fuels, occurs mainly in the transportation infrastructure of the state-owned Pemex that crosses from the south – where the gas– towards the center of the country. “The thefts take place inside a large pipeline where the imported product arrives, it starts from Pajaritos where it is injected and what it does is go through Veracruz, cross Puebla, Hidalgo and the entire downtown area, ending up in Jalisco,” explains Susana Cazorla. , a sector analyst and a former employee of the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Energy.
A parallel market
Gas transportation generally starts from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, where the state company has facilities. And it is right in the initial part of the route where the most fuel is stolen, according to the figures of the state. Only in the first quarter of this year, 592 clandestine taps were found – around half the national figure – in Veracruz. In the first three months of a year earlier, this number was much lower, 170. Puebla, Tlaxcala and the State of Mexico continue on the list, in that order. But none of these states shows exponential growth like the first. Some other states such as Oaxaca, where taps were not counted before, begin to appear on the list.
Cazorla admits that the past administration had already mapped the theft of LP gas as a constant risk for the state oil company.
Analysts see a diversification of groups dedicated to fuel theft. They say that those who previously stole gasoline decided to migrate to the theft of LP gas because it is, above all, a fuel that is easier to distribute and a market with less regulation, compared to the distribution of gasoline.
“The LP gas market is more informal in a certain sense: it is concentrated in a few distribution companies and in the last mile are the commission agents – who bring the fuel in the last part of the transport and sell it for a commission – who often do not they comply with all the permits and safety and sales regulations, so selling the fuel is in a certain way simple,” explains Oscar Ocampo, from the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness. “It is a highly dysfunctional market in that sense, with a lot of informality around in the last mile of sale and that allows the proliferation of clandestine intakes”.
Analysts say that the gas that is stolen from the state company is usually sold at some fuel dispensing stations or even in vehicles that are stolen from distribution companies. The Mexican Association of Liquefied Gas Distributors (Amexgas) was consulted, but did not respond to an interview request.