Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) posted a profit of 14,364 million pesos in the second quarter, as a result of increased domestic and foreign sales, according to its financial report released Wednesday.

The figure compares to a loss of 44,337 million pesos in the same quarter of 2020.

The company’s sales increased by 91.2% to add 347,436 million pesos.

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“The most important variables explaining this situation are the recovery in prices around the world and to a lesser extent the quantities sold,” the company said in the report.

The oil company also indicated that its average production of hydrocarbons was 1.7 million barrels per day.

For the third consecutive quarter, oil production grew in #PEMEX

With the new fields developed in this department, 227 thousand barrels per day are produced إنتاج

In June, 1,768 million barrels per day were produced (including partners) and the refinery’s crude oil operation amounted to 669 million barrels per day. pic.twitter.com/8zi7F8EMIL

Mexican Petroleum Corporation (Pemex) 28 July 2021

According to the report, the cost of oil extraction has been reduced by $2.91 per barrel, and the cost for 2020 is $11.15 per barrel.

Petróleos Mexicanos 🇲🇽 reported a net profit of 14,364 million pesos in the second quarter of the year.

Already with the final numbers, # Pemex Reduces the cost of oil extraction by $2.91 per barrel, and the cost for 2020 is $11.15 per barrel pic.twitter.com/oEnsuaEROo

Mexican Petroleum Corporation (Pemex) 28 July 2021

He added that its total financial debts at the end of the second quarter amounted to 115 thousand million dollars.

The oil company needs to increase its investments to reverse the prolonged decline in its production, which has fallen from an average of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to 1.7 million today.

And Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government has already pumped about $10 billion into an effort to ease the financial situation of the company, which it considers a bulwark of national sovereignty.

In addition, the Mexican Congress on April 22 approved a reform that strengthens the government’s control over the processing and distribution of hydrocarbons, and this, according to analysts, is intended to strengthen Pemex.

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The financial report comes a day after Moody’s downgraded the company from Baa2 to Baa3 with a negative outlook, citing “high liquidity and business risks.”

In all of 2020, the company lost about $23 billion in what it described as the “worst crisis in its history” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With information from Agence France-Presse