Mexico’s Pemex posts $6 billion fourth-quarter loss versus year-ago profit By Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican state oil company Pemex reported a $6.05 billion fourth-quarter net loss on Monday, compared with a year-ago profit, driven by currency exchange losses plus a higher tax bill.

Pemex posted a profit of nearly $5 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue for the state-run company rose almost 80% in the last three months of 2021, boosted by a jump in domestic sales and export sales.

The Mexican oil giant said its and condensate production for the last three months of 2021 averaged 1.75 million barrels per day (bpd), up 4.5% compared with the same quarter in 2020.

The company touted growing output from its nearly 30 new priority fields, or some 322,000 bpd through the end of last year.

The state-run company also reported that its financial debt closed 2021 at $109 billion, down 0.7% from the previous year, due largely to cash infusions from the federal government, according to the firm’s filing with the local stock exchange.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to revive Pemex, the world’s most indebted state oil company, and has pumped billions of dollars in financial support to the company.

Pemex said in December it would continue to cut crude exports this year and could suspend them altogether in 2023 as it works to meet the government’s target of refining all of its oil domestically.

In January, it took complete ownership of the 340,000-barrels per day (bpd) Deer Park refinery in Texas and said it would supply the plant with over 100,000 bpd of its flagship Maya heavy crude.

Pemex is prepared to sacrifice a large portion of its sales to Asia, according to analysts and traders, with the expansion of its gasoline and diesel production.

($1 = 20.5075 pesos at end-December)