Economics

The New Pemex Chief’s Corruption Crusade Isn’t Winning Over Investors

Critics say the company urgently needs to reverse declining oil production.

Petróleos Mexicanos CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza.
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg

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By Amy Stillman

June 13, 2019 at 9:00 AM UTC

Corrected

June 17, 2019 at 3:58 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the June 17, 2019 issue of businessweek.

“Will passenger Octavio Romero Oropeza please come to the ticket counter,” blares a loudspeaker at Veracruz airport, briefly drowning out the clank of ancient air conditioners and the cacophony of passengers grousing about delayed departures.

The chief executive officer of Petróleos Mexicanos is running late—again. That’s a feature, not a bug. One of Romero’s predecessors, Emilio Lozoya, regularly commandeered a company helicopter to commute to work and to travel to nearby destinations, racking up a bill for 9.8 million pesos ($511,000), according to a federal audit.