By Juan Estrada and Estelito Menses
Mexico has started 2019 with a gas shortage. Gas theft in Mexico has been thriving for many years and has now led to many cities having no gas which makes transportation hard for everyone. People who wish to refuel their vehicles now have to wait many hours in line just to get a few gallons of gas.
According to a recent article by The Washington Post, Mexico's major gas company, Pemex, has lost $7.4 billion worth of gas since 2016. They have also reported that gas stations may have bought gas from the black market which has also contributed to the gas shortage.This causes inflation and results in PEMEX losing gas and money every year.
Gas pipelines in Mexico are very easy to crack into and steal tons of gallons from. Comparing Mexico's situation to the United States brings many questions such as, “why is gas theft not as common in the states as it is in Mexico?” There are only a few brands of gas in Mexico which are in charge of fueling the entire population of the country, while in the states you see a variety of gas companies all over the nation like Chevron or Shell. Gas is stolen so the thieves can make profit from it by selling it to construction companies significantly lower than gas stations.
The theft of gas has been a practice of strong armed criminal organizations for many years now. These cartels have learned where to locate the pipelines and even know how to drill the fuel out. According to The Los Angeles Times, some gangs have become sophisticated in this business that they built a warehouse over the pipelines right of ways to drill illegal taps into the ducts. Gas theft has costed the Mexican government $3 billion every year.
The new president of Mexico, Lopez Obrador, has started to put military personnel to secure the pipelines that have been cracked open by gas thiefs. Obrador has found this method very effective and has reported that gas theft has declined just in his first month in office .
Exposed pipelines can be highly vulnerable to exploding and this puts innocent people in peril. There have been many incidents in the past years in areas of Mexico where open gas pipelines explode and took the lives of many innocent people. In the state of Hidalgo, a gas pipeline erupted killing 79 people and injuring 70 others. This happens due to an illegal tap used to steal gas. As anyone would imagine, this would be an atrocious moment to experience.
Mexico has suffered from gas theft for many years now but now it has created a dilemma for their whole country. Going out for shopping and visiting relatives has now been difficult compared to when there was sufficient gas for everybody.
The gas shortage has hit the economy of Mexico very negatively and has caused people to go out less to places that are at a distance from them. Public transportation is being heavily relied on at the moment which causes very overcrowded buses. An article on the difficulty of transportation in Mexico by CNN states that the gas shortage has gotten so horrible that public transportation has been halted by in some areas of Mexico.
Without public transportation, there is no way for some people to get to work or to go to their favourite restaurant.
According to NPR, Agustin Barrios who is a tattoo artist waited there bored and tired of sitting in his car and waiting to get gas. NPR also interviewed Christian Camacho who said: "Lopez Obrador should have thought this out better and put a better plan in place," he states, "so not all of us would be suffering now." Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Mexico City.
Long dreadful hours of waiting for gas has now came to the point where people are now camping outside of the gas station in their cars. The Los Angeles times interviewed people waiting in line for gas and how they think this is affecting them and their family. Julia Rendon, a real estate agent waiting in line for gas, answered, “Now we are lining up for gasoline, and I hope in the future, we won’t be in line to buy bread, sugar, and milk.”
As Mexico is trying to gain their fuel back, many gas stations are only distributing only 10 to 20 liters or less. That means they are giving very small amounts of what they are suppose to give out. Many people in Mexico are not gonna have enough gas to get food, water, clothing and other necessities. Hopefully mexico’s president Lopez Obrador finds a way to resolve thieves from stealing the gas so mexico can go back to normal.
Mexico has started 2019 with a gas shortage. Gas theft in Mexico has been thriving for many years and has now led to many cities having no gas which makes transportation hard for everyone. People who wish to refuel their vehicles now have to wait many hours in line just to get a few gallons of gas.
According to a recent article by The Washington Post, Mexico's major gas company, Pemex, has lost $7.4 billion worth of gas since 2016. They have also reported that gas stations may have bought gas from the black market which has also contributed to the gas shortage.This causes inflation and results in PEMEX losing gas and money every year.
Gas pipelines in Mexico are very easy to crack into and steal tons of gallons from. Comparing Mexico's situation to the United States brings many questions such as, “why is gas theft not as common in the states as it is in Mexico?” There are only a few brands of gas in Mexico which are in charge of fueling the entire population of the country, while in the states you see a variety of gas companies all over the nation like Chevron or Shell. Gas is stolen so the thieves can make profit from it by selling it to construction companies significantly lower than gas stations.
The theft of gas has been a practice of strong armed criminal organizations for many years now. These cartels have learned where to locate the pipelines and even know how to drill the fuel out. According to The Los Angeles Times, some gangs have become sophisticated in this business that they built a warehouse over the pipelines right of ways to drill illegal taps into the ducts. Gas theft has costed the Mexican government $3 billion every year.
The new president of Mexico, Lopez Obrador, has started to put military personnel to secure the pipelines that have been cracked open by gas thiefs. Obrador has found this method very effective and has reported that gas theft has declined just in his first month in office .
Exposed pipelines can be highly vulnerable to exploding and this puts innocent people in peril. There have been many incidents in the past years in areas of Mexico where open gas pipelines explode and took the lives of many innocent people. In the state of Hidalgo, a gas pipeline erupted killing 79 people and injuring 70 others. This happens due to an illegal tap used to steal gas. As anyone would imagine, this would be an atrocious moment to experience.
Mexico has suffered from gas theft for many years now but now it has created a dilemma for their whole country. Going out for shopping and visiting relatives has now been difficult compared to when there was sufficient gas for everybody.
The gas shortage has hit the economy of Mexico very negatively and has caused people to go out less to places that are at a distance from them. Public transportation is being heavily relied on at the moment which causes very overcrowded buses. An article on the difficulty of transportation in Mexico by CNN states that the gas shortage has gotten so horrible that public transportation has been halted by in some areas of Mexico.
Without public transportation, there is no way for some people to get to work or to go to their favourite restaurant.
According to NPR, Agustin Barrios who is a tattoo artist waited there bored and tired of sitting in his car and waiting to get gas. NPR also interviewed Christian Camacho who said: "Lopez Obrador should have thought this out better and put a better plan in place," he states, "so not all of us would be suffering now." Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Mexico City.
Long dreadful hours of waiting for gas has now came to the point where people are now camping outside of the gas station in their cars. The Los Angeles times interviewed people waiting in line for gas and how they think this is affecting them and their family. Julia Rendon, a real estate agent waiting in line for gas, answered, “Now we are lining up for gasoline, and I hope in the future, we won’t be in line to buy bread, sugar, and milk.”
As Mexico is trying to gain their fuel back, many gas stations are only distributing only 10 to 20 liters or less. That means they are giving very small amounts of what they are suppose to give out. Many people in Mexico are not gonna have enough gas to get food, water, clothing and other necessities. Hopefully mexico’s president Lopez Obrador finds a way to resolve thieves from stealing the gas so mexico can go back to normal.