Mexico dismantles four clandestine oil refineries

Mexican federal prosecutors said on August 4 that authorities dismantled four clandestine oil refineries and seized almost one million liters, or about 6,300 barrels, of petroleum derivatives.

The illegal fuel-processing sites were in the central states of San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and Morelos, prosecutors said. Authorities also seized containers and machinery.

Prosecutors said truck movements at the sites, including vehicles carrying industrial pipes or smelling of fuel, helped alert authorities to the operations. They did not say whether anyone was arrested.

Organized crime groups in Mexico have for years smuggled fuel and siphoned hydrocarbons from pipelines and installations belonging to partially state-owned oil company Pemex. Prosecutors said the processing centers marked a new twist in the illicit fuel trade.

Smuggling cost Pemex about $530 million in the first half of 2026, 20 percent more than in the same period of 2025, according to the prosecutors' statement.