Pemex is struggling–to put it lightly. Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s long-mismanaged state-owned oil company, has been bleeding money as its production levels have fallen to a trickle of their former production levels over the last decade. Now, Pemex is reporting a 36 billion peso ($1.9 billion U.S. dollars) loss in the first quarter. While these numbers are grim, especially compared to the 113-billion-peso profit reported in the first quarter last year, Mexican officials say that things are headed in the right direction for Pemex. It’s true that a loss of 36 billion pesos in the first quarter is a marked improvement over the previous quarter’s crushing loss of 157.3 billion pesos. Furthermore, officials at Pemex are reporting that the new tough-on-corruption administration, headed by leftist Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has had considerable success in its efforts to cut down on fuel theft–locally known as huachicoleo–a persistent and widespread […]