Mexico’s state-owned oil company is suing 9 U.S. companies and two individuals for their purported involvement in buying or processing Mexican oil products that had been stolen by gangs.
Petroleos Mexicanos says the lawsuit was filed in the federal district court in Houston, Texas last week, but the company only announced the suit Wednesday.
The company says the suit is intended to “combat the theft and smuggling of gas condensate from its facilities in northern Mexico.”
Two Texas oil company officials were convicted in 2010 of selling petroleum products stolen from Mexico.
Mexico says drug cartels and other criminals tap pipelines and siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil each year.
