Hidalgo leads Mexico in clandestine fuel taps, Pemex data show

Reporting and context

Official Pemex data show Hidalgo recorded the highest number of clandestine taps on liquid-fuel pipelines in Mexico through the end of August, with 1,467 cases. Jalisco ranked second with 992 cases so far this year, followed by Guanajuato with 431. According to Infobae México, the figures come from Pemex data and an analysis by the Institute for Municipal Management, Administration and Coordination (IGAVIM).

Hidalgo's total represented 29.86% of the national count, and was 220 cases higher than the 1,247 recorded during the comparable period of 2025, a 17.64% increase. Pemex identified a clandestine tap in the state approximately every three hours. Cuautepec de Hinojosa led the country with 439 cases; 21 of the 100 Mexican municipalities with the most reported taps were in Hidalgo.

The national total also rose, from 4,882 cases in the first half of 2025 to 4,912 in the first half of 2026, an increase of 0.61%, according to the report. In August, federal prosecutors, the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and the Mexican Army seized 40,000 liters of gasoline in Tlajomulco, Jalisco, where authorities also found containers, storage tanks, 30 tractor-trailers, 21 tanker trucks, analysis equipment, computers and documents.

Infobae México reported that the Tlajomulco seizure was one of the pipeline breaches Pemex detects in Jalisco, on average, every four hours and 25 minutes. The source said the data indicate that illegal fuel tapping remains active despite previous government claims that “huachicol” had been eliminated.