Pirate activity in the Gulf of Mexico is on the rise and so is oil theft from platforms operating in the area, Fox News reports , with losses for Pemex as high as $1 billion annually. Oil theft is not uncommon in Mexico, with most of it linked to local cartels using the services of crooked Pemex employees. Yet most of this theft takes place on land: over just two months in 2018, criminals drilled almost 2,300 illegal taps into Pemex pipelines in Mexico. Although oil and diesel stealing has been going on for decades, there has been an increase in criminal activity reported in the last four years, said Johan Obdola, the founder of the International Organization for Security and Intelligence, a Canada-based nonprofit. “It is estimated that the stealing in Mexico is up to 1.18 million barrels a day, bringing millions to criminal organizations, and making it […]