Mexican soldiers die responding to fuel theft

Four Mexican soldiers were killed and ten wounded in the state of Puebla in two incidents when soldiers responded to reports of thieves stealing fuel from pipelines.

The first incident took place in the village of Palmarito late yesterday evening when soldiers going to investigate a fuel theft report were attacked from a distance by individuals hiding behind a group of women and children, Mexico's ministry of defense said in a statement.

"Military personnel decided to not respond to the attack, given that the women and children were being used as human shields," the ministry said.

Two soldiers were killed and another was injured.

Another attack took place immediately after in the same area, when assailants in five trucks, including three that the ministry described as armored, shot at soldiers. Soldiers returned fire, but two more soldiers were killed and nine injured. Three of the attackers were killed and one was wounded, the ministry said.

Twelve of the attackers were arrested, including two minors.

Fuel theft is a massive problem in Mexico. In a March interview on a local radio show, Carlos Murrieta Cummings, head of Pemex's downstream division, estimated that the company had lost some 26,000 b/d throughout 2016 from fuel theft, leading to financial losses of about 30 billion pesos ($1bn).

Sources have told Argus that Pemex is likely under-estimating losses, which one energy official estimated would be closer to $1.4bn to $1.5bn/year.