Salamanca is just one of six fuel refineries operated by Mexico’s state-owned Pemex that, in recent years, has become a hot target.

Ever since the Mexican government cracked down on the drug cartels scattered throughout the country, criminals have looked to more lucrative sources to continue their illegal trades.

And what’s more profitable than fuel?

After cartels were forced to split, the new factions, eager for a new source of revenue, took to terrorising refinery workers in an effort to gain information about when fuels would be pumped and through which pipelines.

Now, fuel theft – which is neither new or unique – is becoming one of Mexico’s most pressing economic and security dilemmas, as more than $1 billion in annual revenue has been sucked from the state, explains Business Insider.

And it has recently been reported that fuel theft reached an all-time high in 2017.

As a result, fuel thieves are pitting the “country’s biggest industries — narcotics and oil — against one another”:

The cash-rich cartels, believed by the Mexican government to generate well over $21 billion each year, are an increasing threat to Pemex, which in 2016 reported revenue of about $52 billion and generates about a fifth of government income.

But Mexico had other plans.

Not only were they on a mission to rid the country of cartels, but in 2014 they introduced an energy reform policy which offered private investors the chance to provide capital for ageing refineries.

Like Salamanca.

However, with looming elections and an overall deepening of insecurity in the country, fuel theft is making cartels more powerful.

At the same time, it’s crippling Mexico’s economy:

By targeting refineries, already suffering from a lack of investment, Mexico’s most notorious criminals gain access to nerve centers [sic] for much of the country’s fuel supply.

That threatens an oil industry that accounts for about 8% of Mexico’s economy and creates yet more uncertainty for a country already reeling from US threats to dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Between 2011 and 2016, the number of unauthorized taps discovered on Mexico’s fuel lines nearly quintupled, according to a recent report by the federal auditor. Repair costs surged almost tenfold, to 1.77 billion pesos ($95 million).

A May 2017 study, commissioned by the national energy regulator and obtained by Reuters via a freedom of information request, found that thieves, between 2009 and 2016, had tapped pipelines roughly every 1.4 kilometers (0.86 miles) along Pemex’s approximately 14,000 km pipeline network.

After decades of poor upkeep, the refineries are bleeding money as well as fuel. In addition to unscheduled outages, which cause big operational losses, maintenance problems have led to fatal accidents, including fires and explosions.

And why go back to drugs? As Georgina Trujillo, a ruling party congresswoman who heads the lower house energy commission, explains:

“The business is more profitable than drug trafficking because it implies less risk.

“You don’t have to risk crossing the border to look for a market. We all consume gasoline. We don’t all consume drugs.”

You said it, girl.

[source:businessinsider]