Between the kidnappings and the pilfering of the oil by cartels, Pemex has some issues. Just one suggestion for Pemex, and that is if you want to retain some of that oil and stop paying ransoms, then make the investment in a competent security company to protect your stuff and people. You can buy some pretty kick ass security for well under the 750 million dollars that you are losing every year (on top of what ever you are paying for in ransoms). –Matt
Edit: 5/20/2010 – Check out this story about former Mexican presidential candidate that was kidnapped recently.
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Pemex exec kidnapping rattles Mexico oil industry
May 11 2010
By Robert Campbell
Driving home along rough, poorly lit roads to the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa, an oil executive and his driver stopped at a roadside eatery for dinner when they were cornered by armed men.
The gunmen seized Nestor Martinez, who manages a production unit for energy monopoly Pemex in the oil-rich state of Tabasco, and sent his driver on to deliver the news he had been kidnapped, industry sources say.
Martinez was released a few days after his abduction last month but a spate of kidnappings of Pemex executives has shaken the oil industry in a country where drug cartels and organized crime gangs are increasingly spooking foreign investors.
“Everyone has heard about it but there has been no official statement. It’s really frightening,” said a Pemex employee in Villahermosa, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with reporters.
A Pemex spokesman declined to comment on the case, and the industry sources could not confirm local media reports that a large ransom was paid to free Martinez, also president of the national petroleum engineers’ association.
Mexico is in the grip of a brutal drugs war that has killed some 23,000 people, mainly traffickers and police, since President Felipe Calderon took power in late 2006. The army crackdown launched by Calderon has fanned turf wars between rival gangs and battles against security forces.