Mexico reports 48.411 billion pesos recovered in fuel-tax campaign

Reporting and context

Mexico’s government reported recovering 48.411 billion pesos in excise-tax revenue through its campaign against the illicit fuel trade, Contacto Hoy reported. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the figure reflected increased tax receipts in 2026 through September compared with those reported in 2025.

According to Contacto Hoy, Sheinbaum presented the figures at her October 21 morning briefing. She said inspections had uncovered irregularities across the fuel supply chain, from imports and commercial sales to transport, storage and distribution. Measures included canceling gasoline-station permits, removing tax registrations and reviewing authorizations to market hydrocarbons.

The government also reported 2,539 arrests, 5,572 transport units seized and 173.7 million liters of fuel confiscated in coordinated operations involving federal security authorities, the National Guard and the federal Attorney General’s Office. The article did not specify a reporting period for those enforcement totals; they should not be read as the results of a single operation.

Pemex had filed 10,674 fuel-theft complaints with federal prosecutors. Other agencies reported 152 complaints from the tax authority, 150 from the National Energy Commission, 127 from the federal fiscal prosecutor’s office and 11 from the national customs agency.

Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar said 16 federal institutions were exchanging information to detect irregular movements. A hydrocarbons data-analysis center was also created to track fuel from importation to final sale. The Energy Secretariat reported identifying fuel imbalances equivalent to 8.824 billion liters in 2025, valued at an estimated 61.785 billion pesos, particularly in commercialization.

Customs authorities reported corrections involving 1.952 billion liters of fuel allegedly intended to enter Mexico illegally, with an estimated value of 13.664 billion pesos. They also reported 500 fines for incorrect, late or inaccurate information, while eight customs brokers faced administrative and legal proceedings. The National Energy Commission reported registering 61,557 transport units monitored through GPS and QR codes, canceling 264 retail permits and pursuing sanction proceedings against 307 permit holders.

At the same presentation, Pemex director Juan Carlos Carpio Fragoso reported a 17.9 percent increase in gasoline and diesel sales between January and September 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, with a reported value of 160.589 billion pesos. He also reported average oil production of 1.76 million barrels a day against a target of 1.8 million.

Contacto Hoy emphasized that the enforcement and revenue figures were national totals. They did not establish how much revenue was recovered in Durango or how many seizures and proceedings occurred there; assessing the state’s share would require a geographic breakdown.

Original reporting: Contacto Hoy.