Black gold on then black market

摘要

DRUGS, extortion, kidnapping, people- smuggling: Mexico's organised-crime multinationals have a keen eye for diversi fication. A growing sideline is stolen oil. In 2011 outlaws made off with 3.35m barrels of fuel belonging to Pemex, the state-run oil monopoly, up from 2.16m in 2010. The thefts are reckoned to deprive the company of more than $1 billion per year. Pe- mex's profits pay for a third of the federal government's budget.