Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is Mexico's state-owned, nationalized petroleum company. In 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas sided with oil workers striking against foreign-owned oil companies for an increase in pay and social services. Unfortunately, the U.S. and British companies refused. In turn, President Cárdenas declared the oil to be Mexican owned and state governed and embarked on the expropriation of the resources and facilities.

Pemex is the sole operator of all commercial petrol stations in Mexico. Its stations are mostly full-service in major cities but most of them still do not accept credit cards.

The grades of Pemex gasoline are Magna (Regular Unleaded 87) and Premium (93).

On June 3, 1979, PeMex's Ixtoc I exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, about 600 miles south of Texas, suffered a blowout and became the largest unintentional oil spill in history.

On November 19, 1984 a series of explosions at the Pemex petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City ignited a major fire and killed about 500 people.

External link

• Pemex
• Yahoo! - Petróleos Mexicanos Company Profile