Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) is Mexico's state-owned petroleum company. It is the
10th largest oil company in the world in terms of Revenue and 34th place out of
the Fortune 500 companies.
Asphalt and pitch had been worked in Mexico
since the time of the Aztecs. Small quantities of oil were first refined into
kerosene around 1876 near Tampico. By 1917 commercial quantities of oil were
being extracted and refined by subsidiaries of the British Pearson and American
Doheny companies, and had attracted the attention of the Mexican government who
then claimed all mineral rights for the state as part of its Constitution.
In
1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas sided with oil workers striking against
foreign-owned oil companies for an increase in pay and social services. On
March 18, citing the 27th article of the 1917 constitution, President Lázaro
Cárdenas embarked on the state-expropriation of all resources and facilities, nationalizing
the U.S. and Anglo-Dutch operating companies, creating PEMEX. In retaliation,
many foreign governments closed their markets to Mexican oil. In spite
of the boycott, PEMEX developed into one of the largest oil companies in the
world and helped Mexico become the fifth largest oil exporter in the world. |
