Pemex cuts debt to 11-year low as Mexico pushes oil production turnaround

(Bloomberg) – Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos reduced its debt to the lowest level in 11 years, a hopeful sign for the struggling state-owned oil company as it seeks to reverse a decades-long production decline and revive its money-losing refining business.

The company cut its total debt to roughly $84.5 billion, according to a company presentation, after receiving more than $40 billion of support last year from Mexico’s finance ministry through debt purchases and cash injections.

Pemex also made about 390.2 billion pesos ($22.7 billion) of payments to partners in 2025, CEO Victor Rodriguez said in a press briefing Wednesday, another indication the company is making headway in whittling down its large debts to service providers.

The company’s crude oil output has dropped by about 50% from its peak more than two decades ago. For years, Pemex has struggled to bring new discoveries online as production fell at many of its most prolific fields. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is seeking a turnaround by attracting more private investment to the nation’s aging oil and gas fields, with the aim of making Pemex self-sufficient by 2027. Sheinbaum said Wednesday that government financial assistance for the company may continue next year.

Pemex also is taking steps to improve efficiency at its aging refineries, which have been hit by accidents and outages in recent years. Mexico’s flagship Dos Bocas plant is now producing about 300,000 barrels of fuel per day, Sheinbaum said, lifting total output at the country’s domestic refineries to around 1.2 million barrels a day.

Separately, Pemex has drawn criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump over its oil sales to Cuba. Sheinbaum said Mexico is holding diplomatic talks to keep supplying oil to the communist nation on humanitarian grounds. Mexico sold nearly $500 million of crude to the island in 2025, she said Wednesday.