Mexico Never Got 597,000 Barrels of US Crude, US Says

The headquarters tower of Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company, in Mexico City. File photo, 2010. (Photo: ProtoplasmaKid, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

MEXICO · ENERGY

The US Census Bureau now says 597,027 barrels of US crude first recorded as a June export to Mexico actually went to Singapore. The correction, posted on Friday 9 October, backs Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company, which says it imported no crude in 2026.

The cargo, worth about US$69.67 million, had made headlines in Mexico the same day, when El Financiero, a Mexico City business newspaper, reported it. For US oil traders and investors, the episode shows how quickly official trade data can be rewritten.

What the US Census Bureau Corrected

The change appears in the Census Bureau’s list of corrections to 2026 trade data, with a posting date of Friday 9 October. The bureau, part of the US Commerce Department, compiles official American trade statistics.

It concerns US crude testing 25 degrees API or more. API gravity, a scale set by the American Petroleum Institute, measures density, and higher numbers mean lighter oil.

For June 2026, the Mexico entry of 597,027 barrels, worth US$69,671,232, now reads zero. The same barrels and the same value are transferred to Singapore.

The notice also clears a small May entry of 980 barrels, worth US$41,481, that had been filed as crude for Mexico. That shipment is reclassified as motor vehicle parts.

The bureau describes the change only as a product recode and a country change for Mexico. It gives no further explanation.

How the Cargo Became a Mexican Puzzle

El Financiero reported the June figure on Friday 9 October, citing the original Census records. Those showed the oil clearing US customs through the New Orleans district in Louisiana, about 19,901 barrels a day across the month.

Pemex, short for Petróleos Mexicanos, is the state-owned company that runs Mexico’s oil fields and refineries. It answers to the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum of the left-wing Morena party.

Asked about the cargo, Pemex told El Financiero it had made no crude oil imports so far in 2026. It added that “to date there is no record of a valid permit to carry out this type of operation.”

Sener, Mexico’s Energy Ministry, did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. El Financiero reported that the ministry has granted no permits to import crude, either to Pemex or to private companies.

Tables from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department’s statistics agency, put the last sizeable US crude shipments to Mexico in late 2018. Had the June figure stood, it would have been the first since November 2018.

Ships on the Mississippi River at New Orleans, the US customs district through which the June crude cargo was recorded. File photo, 2005. (Photo: PRA, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Why Crude Imports Are Touchy in Mexico

Energy specialist Fluvio Ruiz Alarcón told El Financiero that buying crude abroad is common practice in the global oil industry. He said Mexico has long faced political resistance to admitting it may need foreign crude.

He said imported blends could help Pemex refineries run closer to the crude they were designed for. If Mexico’s seven refineries ran to design, he said, the country would have a diesel surplus.

Pemex also owns a large refinery on US soil, in Deer Park, Texas. According to Ruiz Alarcón, it processes about 340,000 barrels a day, about 70,000 of them Maya, a heavy Mexican crude.

A Similar Data Error in 2019

Mexico has seen this before. In 2019, first Census data showed more than 532,000 barrels of US crude sent to Mexico in July and almost 9,000 in August, Vanguardia reported.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then Mexico’s left-wing president and founder of the ruling Morena party, rejected the figures.

“We are not importing crude oil. The figure that was given was wrong,” López Obrador said at the time.

In October 2019, the Census Bureau said it had identified an erroneous report in oil export filings to Mexico. It said it would correct both months, and EIA tables now show zero for July 2019.

What It Means for You

For US investors and traders, the case is a reminder that first-release trade data can be wrong and revised months later. The EIA’s tables, last updated on Wednesday 30 September, still list the June cargo of US crude under Mexico.

The EIA’s next monthly update is due on Friday 30 October. In June, oil mostly flowed north: the United States imported about 7.3 million barrels of Mexican crude, EIA figures show.

For companies shipping fuel to Mexico, border scrutiny is rising. The finance committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Mexico’s lower house, has backed new customs fines, Expansión reported on Thursday 1 October.

The fines would run from 50% to 100% of a cargo’s value for undervalued fuel imports. Lawmakers aim them at “huachicol fiscal”, the popular name for fuel smuggling.

The proposed customs penalties would take effect on 1 January 2027. For travellers and consumers, nothing changes for now.

A profile of Pemex and its debt explains the company’s finances.

What Is Not Known

The Census Bureau’s notice does not say why the June cargo of US crude was first recorded as bound for Mexico. Its public records name neither the US exporter nor the buyer in Singapore.

It is not known whether the correction followed questions from the Mexican press. Sener has not commented on the shipment, and the EIA has not yet updated its June figure.

More: Mexico news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Mexico import US crude in June 2026?

Not according to the US Census Bureau’s correction posted on 9 October. The 597,027 barrels first recorded as an export to Mexico were moved to Singapore, and Pemex says it imported no crude in 2026.

What did Pemex say about the US crude exports to Mexico?

Pemex told El Financiero it made no crude imports so far in 2026. It said it has no record of a valid permit for that kind of operation.

Has this happened before?

Yes. In 2019, first Census data showed more than 532,000 barrels sent to Mexico in July, which President López Obrador denied. The Census Bureau then said a filing was erroneous and announced corrections.

Is the cargo large by US standards?

No. The United States exported 142 million barrels of crude in June, according to the EIA. The 597,027-barrel cargo of US crude was less than half of 1% of that.

Sources: US Census Bureau, Foreign Trade, Corrections to Data, 9 October 2026; US Census Bureau, Corrections to 2026 Data (spreadsheet), 9 October 2026; US Energy Information Administration, US exports to Mexico of crude oil (monthly), 30 September 2026; US Energy Information Administration, US exports of crude oil (monthly), 30 September 2026; US Energy Information Administration, US imports from Mexico of crude oil (monthly), 30 September 2026; El Financiero, 9 October 2026; El Financiero, 9 October 2026; Expansión, 1 October 2026; Vanguardia, 12 October 2019.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error