By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY–Mexican state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos swung to a net profit in the fourth quarter as tax benefits coupled with a reversal of asset impairments offset lower sales.
Pemex, as the company is known, reported a net profit of 106.9 billion Mexican pesos ($6.3 billion) for the October-December period, compared with a net loss of 95.6 billion pesos in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Sales fell 17% to 425.5 billion pesos as a result of lower crude oil and products prices. Domestic sales fell 20% and exports were down 14%. The cost of purchases for resale fell by 19%.
Operating profit was 75.5 billion pesos, compared with an operating loss of 112.5 billion pesos a year-earlier.
Results were helped by a tax credit of 6.7 billion pesos after the federal government exempted Pemex from profit-sharing duties for October through December.
In a conference call with analysts, chief executive Octavio Romero Oropeza said the company expects to continue receiving federal government support. He said the 2024 federal budget includes 145 billion pesos to be transferred to Pemex, which along with a further reduction in Pemex’s tax rate will result in support greater than the company’s debt maturities this year.
Pemex’s debt stood at $106.1 billion at the end of 2023, compared with $107.7 billion in 2022. The company faces debt maturities of around $8.8 billion in 2024.
Fourth-quarter crude oil and condensates production rose 2.8% to 1.86 million barrels a day, and natural gas production rose by 1% to 4.88 billion cubic feet a day.
Pemex refined 13% less crude oil in the quarter at 731,000 barrels a day–excluding Deer Park in Texas–as the result of rehabilitation work at three of the company’s refineries at the start of the quarter. Processing was 823,000 barrels a day in December and rose to 950,000 barrels a day in January, Pemex said.
Write to Anthony Harrup at [email protected]
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