OREANDA-NEWS. November 14, 2016. US fuel suppliers looking to enter the newly-liberalized Mexican refined products market face growing pipeline theft in the country, among a variety of infrastructure concerns.

Controlling volumetric losses and specification violations before product reachest the retail pump presents a difficulty for fuel sellers, said Alberto Vogel, chief executive officer of Optimum Molecula, at the Argus Mexico Refined Products conference in Houston.

Over 7mn bl of gasoline worth \\$850mn are stolen every year in Mexico, Vogel said. Pipeline theft — where criminal groups literally tap pipelines to siphon off fuel — is up by 9pc in 2016, averaging 15 illegal taps per day, said Avery Plank of Rangeland Energy.