Between 2018 and 2025, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) notified the Agency for Safety, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) of 1,473 hydrocarbon spills in 20 states across the country. Of these, 397 occurred in the state of Hidalgo, while Tabasco, the state with the second-highest number of such oil spills, reported 181 during the same period.
Despite being the state with the most onshore oil activity, ASEA data places Hidalgo, which for years has had the highest number of illegal taps, as the state with the most reported hydrocarbon spills. This is part of Pemex’s established protocols for reporting incidents, which require ASEA to be notified.
Data from the agency that regulates the oil industry in our country reveals that between 2018 and 2025, 397 hydrocarbon spills were recorded in that state, followed by 181 reported by Pemex in Tabasco, 163 in the state of Veracruz, 146 in the Gulf of Mexico, 105 in Guanajuato, and 101 in Puebla.
These states have the highest number of accidents nationwide, while Tlaxcala and Durango have each reported only one such incident during the same period. In total, 1,473 spills have been reported to ASEA (the National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector) across the country over the last eight years, meaning that, on average, Pemex reports 3.5 spills every week nationwide.
Likewise, the agency notes in its report to this news outlet that, over the past eight years, these incidents related to oil extraction in Mexico have been recorded in 20 of the country’s states and in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Regarding Tabasco, the ASEA (National Agency for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection of the Hydrocarbons Sector) indicates in its response submitted via transparency request that the highest number of reports submitted by Pemex corresponds to 2023, when 42 hydrocarbon spills were reported in the state, followed by 25 reports in 2019, and the same number of cases in 2022. As of the end of 2025, the national agency reports having received a report on 17 spills that occurred in the state.
In the information provided to this news outlet, the ASEA does not specify the cause of the spill reported by the Mexican oil company, as is part of the protocols initiated whenever such an event occurs.
Despite the limited extractive activity in Hidalgo, the state has one of the country’s main refineries, and it is where the most reports of hydrocarbon theft from pipelines are registered nationwide, and now the ASEA also places it with the highest number of spills in the entire country.
Source: oem
