Oil revenues are recovering, but 98% were allocated to transfers to Pemex.

Of the oil revenues the federal government has received, 98% have been transferred to Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to support its financial situation. As a result, in the first year of Claudia Sheinbaum's six-year term, oil revenues are barely contributing to the country's public finances.

In January-April 2025, the federal government's total oil revenues amounted to 90.6 billion pesos, representing a 44% recovery in real terms compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).

But during that same period, the federal government, through the Ministry of Energy, transferred 88.4 billion pesos to Pemex, according to México Evalúa.

Thus, the federal government's net oil revenues totaled 2.2 billion pesos, which, while an improvement over last year (when the government had a net loss of 33 billion pesos at the end of April), is the second-worst figure on record.

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On the other hand, Pemex captured 224.662 billion pesos of oil revenue in the first four months of the year, representing 71% of all oil revenue Mexico earned during that period.

Jorge Cano, a researcher at México Evalúa, has explained that since Pemex is a state-owned company, the oil revenue it obtains is divided in two: one portion is given to the federal government to finance public policies, programs, infrastructure projects, etc., while the other portion remains with the oil company.

The portion delivered to the government is transferred by Pemex through the payment of royalties it owes for its oil exploitation, an asset that has been the property of the entire nation since 1938 thanks to the expropriation of the oil industry.

The researcher said that since the last six-year term, the proportion of oil revenues delivered to the government has been declining, particularly in the last two years.

As governments of one political party or another have passed, Pemex has increasingly captured a larger share of oil revenue.

For example, during Felipe Calderón's six-year term, the state-owned company kept an average of 33% of oil revenue, while under Enrique Peña Nieto it retained 42%, and under López Obrador it retained 66%.