| | |  Business News | August 2009 
Deputies Demand Shake-Up in Pemex
 The News
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August 06, 2009
Federal deputies from several parties are demanding Mexican Petroleum (Pemex) remove corrupt employees or overhaul its hierarchy, after growing allegations that Pemex's own are robbing oil.
National Action Party Deputy Gerardo Priego Tapia said Pemex should "do an enormous house cleaning" and make efforts to become totally transparent, since citizens have lost confidence in the state-owned oil company which is Mexico's most important economy.
Deputies from the Institutional Revolutionary (PRI) and Convergence parties are also requesting major changes in Pemex.
The state-owned company is expected to lose between 20 and 30 billion pesos this year to illegal taps - robberies from tanker trucks, transportation pipes and storage and distribution terminals.
Oil robberies have shot up 10 percent since this point last year and have been confirmed in 19 states in 2009 - six more than in 2008.
Federal authorities and Pemex are investigating its own officials and employees, who may potentially be involved in the losses that are worth more than yearly budget of the National Autonomous University (UNAM).
Regarding the illegal taps, Priego said the thieves "are ransacking Mexico's oil, which has cost billions of pesos, and it seems to indicate that the authorities are involved."
PRI Deputy Samuel Aguilar Solís demanded the federal government provide concrete evidence that Pemex has become more efficient and better managed.
"The government ought to stop the corruption and theft of the petroleum, which at the end of the day belongs to the country," he said.
Aguilar said that internal accounting needs to be improved to keep track of expenses, supplies and profits.
Convergence Deputy JosAc Manuel del Río Virgen said 10 billion pesos have been lost to "milking" oil this year, accusing both lawmakers and Pemex employees.
A petroleum duct can't be tapped by just anybody, del Río said; it takes special knowledge, otherwise it would explode.
Pemex must restructure, he said, calling the company's monitoring and protection of ducts "embarrassing." |
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