Mexico Reveals Sweeping Plan to Reduce Pemex Debt, Boost Investment and Lift Production

  • Mexico’s government announced during a press conference on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, that it aims to cease funding Pemex by 2027, when the highly indebted state energy company should become financially self-sufficient, supported by a series of measures to pay down debt and stabilise production.
  • President Claudia Sheinbaum presented a ten-year plan that outlined steps to achieve the government’s goals of making Pemex financially self-sufficient. Officials reiterated its ambition to pay down debt, both maturing bond debt and what the company owes to providers. To achieve all this, a new government-backed investment vehicle will seek to raise up to 250 billion Mexican pesos ($13 billion) for Pemex projects in 2025 alone to help lift declining production. This follows a $12 billion debt offering to ease Pemex's short-term financial pressures and support debt refinancing.
  • According to President Sheinbaum, over 20 mixed contracts could help lift declining production by as much as 450,000 barrels per day (bpd). At the same time, it would refine more at home and therefore reduce crude oil exports to 393,100 bpd in 2035, from 487,900 bpd in 2026. The target for local crude oil processing, including at the new Olmeca refinery in the port of Dos Bocas, is 1.3 million barrels per day. This would help wean the country off gasoline and diesel imports.
  • Pemex CEO Victor Rodriguez also outlined several operational initiatives to support the plan, including leading the development of the Zama and Trion fields and reactivating other fields with potential. In addition, Pemex intends to build three new pipelines.
  • Pemex, the world's most indebted energy company, reported last week a financial debt of around $99 billion and a debt to providers of around $23 billion, which is down from earlier years but still has investors worried. This year $5.1 billion of debt is due for repayment, followed by $18.7 billion next year and $7.7 billion the year after. Finance Minister Edgar Amador said that through a capitalization and financing strategy currently underway, Pemex's financial debt should close this year at $88.8 billion and $77.3 billion by 2030.

(Source: Reuters)