27 thousand barrels of gasoline and diesel are robbed in Mexico every day. That's 2.5% of Mexico's entire output, which translates to losses of over 1 billion dollars per year, says Carlos Murrieta, the General Director of Pemex Transformación, a subsidiary of Mexican state-owned Pemex.
Murrieta, who was interviewed on the “Atando Cabos” radio program in Mexico, said: “I've seen an alarming increase in gasoline robberies,” in the states of Puebla, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas and Veracruz.
“These are the states with the most illegal siphoning and where we're focusing our efforts,” said the public servant for the Mexican state-owned petroleum giant.
He said that Pemex keeps exact records of how much crude the company extracts, imports and sells, and based on those figures they're able to calculate how much is lost each year.
“We know how much we deliver to each gas station and we know how much each gas station sells and stores. When we detect any irregularities, we try to investigate what's going on,” he said.
He also said that when an irregularity is detected, the police is automatically involved.
“The most important thing here is that we continue with quality controls and random checks at gas stations. We are constantly monitoring gas stations,” he said.
He said that last month, three criminals were tracked down and arrested on charges of robbing gasoline, all three of who were given 15 years in federal prison.