Mexico Unites Treasury, Financial Intelligence and Pemex Against Fuel Theft
MEXICO · ENERGY
Key Facts
—What happened: Mexico’s finance ministry, its financial intelligence unit and Pemex signed an anti-fuel-theft pact on August 27.
—How it works: Pemex hands over financial and legal data; the intelligence unit returns risk analysis and leads.
—The target: Networks that steal fuel and launder the proceeds, plus corruption and fraud inside the supply chain.
—The catch: Mexico has signed such pacts for years; theft persists, now shifting to invoice and tax fraud schemes.
—In parallel: The 40-billion-peso (US$2.36 billion) Gulf of Mexico highway tender slipped again, award now due October 13.
—Why the delay: Banobras admitted uploading wrong tender documents, and bidders flooded the process with questions.
Mexico’s finance ministry, its financial intelligence unit and state oil company Pemex have signed a data-sharing pact against fuel theft and financial crime, while the country’s flagship Gulf of Mexico highway tender slipped to an October award after document errors.
What the three institutions agreed
The agreement was signed on August 27 and announced in the finance ministry’s Comunicado No. 68. The ministry is the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, or SHCP, Mexico’s equivalent of a treasury.
It acts through the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera, the UIF, Mexico’s financial intelligence unit. That agency tracks suspicious money movements and supports money-laundering prosecutions.
Under the pact, Pemex will give the UIF financial, economic, accounting, legal and administrative information. The goal is to spot illicit proceeds, corruption, fraud and hydrocarbon theft early.
In return, the UIF will hand Pemex intelligence products on risks tied to its financial activity and that of its subsidiaries. The two sides will also train staff together in operational and strategic analysis.
Why fuel theft is a financial-crime problem now
Fuel theft in Mexico is known as huachicol. For years it meant drilling into Pemex pipelines and selling the stolen gasoline or diesel from roadside tanks.
That physical crime is increasingly joined by a paper one. Mexico’s new national security program describes a shift toward shell companies, fake invoices and doctored import declarations, dubbed huachicol fiscal.
This is where the UIF comes in. Following the money is often easier than guarding 10,000 kilometres of pipeline, and the new pact formalizes that logic.
The agreement builds on an existing inter-institutional working group against the illicit fuel market. The ministry frames it as part of Mexico’s commitments to the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money-laundering watchdog.
The catch is institutional memory. Mexico has announced anti-theft strategies and pacts for two decades, and the crime has adapted each time, so the test will be prosecutions, not signatures.
The stakes for Pemex and the treasury
Pemex, or Petróleos Mexicanos, is the state oil company and one of the world’s most indebted. Every litre stolen or smuggled is revenue it does not collect.
The treasury loses twice. It forgoes the IEPS fuel excise tax on illegal sales, and it carries Pemex’s finances on the public balance sheet.
Recent official data show why the issue will not go away. Fuel theft rose again in 2025 even as Pemex reported progress in cutting its own losses, a tension we covered earlier this year.
The Gulf of Mexico Corridor tender slips again
The second story on Mexico’s infrastructure desk this week is the Corredor del Golfo de México, a 514.6-kilometre highway package in Tamaulipas state worth an estimated 40 billion pesos (US$2.36 billion).
The tender is run by Banobras, the state infrastructure bank, under Mexico’s public-private partnership law. It is the first availability-payment road contract of the current administration.
On August 25, bidders were told of the third change to the calendar. The clarification meeting moved to September 10, and the award, originally set for August 26, is now due on October 13.
The reasons are embarrassing. Banobras admitted on August 6 that it had published the wrong demand study and uploaded an annex by mistake, and bidders have flooded the process with questions.
A further delay is likely. Officials already expect at least one more clarification round, given the volume of technical information to review.
What the corridor would build
The project started as an unsolicited proposal by Mota-Engil México, the Portuguese construction group’s local arm. The transport ministry accepted it and handed the process to Banobras.
The winner will widen and operate a chain of highways across Tamaulipas, from the Tampico bypass north through Ciudad Victoria and Reynosa to the Nuevo Laredo border crossing with Texas.
The concession title will sit with Fonadin, the national infrastructure fund. Some stretches would be toll-free for private cars, with trucks and buses paying to keep a social function.
The corridor is a piece of a much larger bet. Banobras says it is working to mobilize more than 523 billion pesos (US$30.8 billion) in public and private road investment under the government’s Plan México.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Mexico’s finance ministry, UIF and Pemex sign?
On August 27, 2026 they signed a collaboration agreement to exchange information against financial crime and fuel theft. Pemex shares financial and legal data, and the UIF returns intelligence on risks.
What is the UIF in Mexico?
The Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera is Mexico’s financial intelligence unit, part of the finance ministry. It tracks suspicious money flows and supports money-laundering investigations.
What is huachicol?
Huachicol is the Mexican term for stolen fuel. It ranges from illegal taps on Pemex pipelines to invoice-fraud schemes that simulate fuel imports and sales to evade taxes.
What is the Gulf of Mexico Corridor tender?
It is a Banobras tender to widen and operate 514.6 kilometres of highways in Tamaulipas state, worth an estimated 40 billion pesos (US$2.36 billion). It began as an unsolicited proposal by Mota-Engil México.
When will the Gulf Corridor award be announced?
After three calendar changes, the award is now set for October 13, 2026, with a clarification meeting on September 10. Officials expect at least one more round of questions, so further delays are possible.
Connected Coverage
We covered the theft trend in Mexico Fuel Theft ‘Huachicol’ Rose 15% in 2025 and the company’s counter-offensive in Pemex Cuts Fuel-Theft Losses by 30% as Mexico Tightens Alerts. More from the region on our Mexico hub.
Sources: SHCP Comunicado No. 68 (gob.mx), El Universal, El Economista, CMIC, La Silla Rota, Mexico’s National Public Security Program 2026-2030. Exchange rate: US$1 = 16.97 Mexican pesos (August 28, 2026).
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