In a political system as centralised and finely balanced as that of Mexico, the position of a major public sector company is particularly interesting. For Pemex itself, the question is how far the technical and financial needs of the state agency could be fulfilled within the fairly tight constraints of Mexican politics. For other sections of the Mexican government the emphasis has appeared differently; how could effective political control be maintained over this agency without the danger of seriously damaging its performance? For outside observers, the nature of this relationship casts an interesting light on the whole question of state ownership of the oil industry: if Pemex can be accounted a success, then what conditions have made this possible? If a failure, then what have been the most important obstacles?

Pemex in formation 1938–50

The birth of Pemex was not easy and the prospects of the infant were not generally regarded highly. Indeed, the us government took so dim a view of its future that it sought only to contain the agency in the expectation that it would eventually die an almost natural death. The early Pemex was itself deformed; it was well endowed with crude oil reserves, but there were difficulties with transportation equipment and a serious lack of refineries in a suitable condition to supply the increasingly important domestic market. Moreover, most of the senior technical and administrative staff of the companies were foreign and left Mexico at the time of the expropriation.