Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) seeks a 'clean slate' in 2026 regarding its debt to suppliers and contractors, accelerating payments to settle at least 180 billion pesos by year-end. Its CEO, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, announced this before the Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. The company will use a 250 billion peso Banobras mechanism and additional ones to address the total 430 billion peso debt as of the first half of 2025.
During his appearance, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla detailed that Pemex conducted a pilot test last week, paying around 26 billion pesos. “We will continue making several payments of between 30-40 billion pesos, and by December, 116 billion pesos will be disbursed, with further disbursements in January and February,” he explained. This way, more than 180 billion pesos are expected to be paid by the end of this year, using the full 250 billion peso Banobras mechanism by February.
However, supplier debt stood at 430 billion pesos at the close of the first half of 2025, requiring additional mechanisms. Rodríguez Padilla expects that, once outstanding debts are cleared, future payments will be timely through contracts with 30, 60, or 90-day terms. He urged large companies that received payments to pass resources to medium and small contractors: “We pay the large companies, but the trickle-down is missing, and we cannot force intermediate suppliers to pay their small suppliers.”
On another front, the director warned that 2026 will be “terrible” for debt maturities, though the market has responded favorably to Pemex's strategies, leading agencies like Fitch Ratings and Moody’s to upgrade their ratings. Operationally, he reaffirmed the commitment to reach 1.8 million barrels per day of production during President Claudia Sheinbaum's term, with 1.7 million from Pemex and 100,000 from private firms. “We lose 30,000 barrels every month that we must compensate to maintain stable production; we have an accelerated decline in major oil fields,” he noted.
Pemex rejects fracking: “25 fracking wells were made during Enrique Peña Nieto's government, and they are documented in Pemex reports, but they were not continued; from 2018, that type of development was suspended.” Instead, they are studying conventional resources with remaining potential. Rodríguez Padilla acknowledged the global shift of oil companies to other energies and stressed: “We are taking care of the resources we have left; we don't have much, but we are doing it in the smartest way and working on it all day.”