As one of the top countries for oil and gas production and processing, Mexico has increasingly been held responsible for the negative environmental effects of this industry. Although the nation has taken the international pledge to reduce methane gas emissions, Mexico has had an increasing number of gas flares produced primarily by the state-run gas and oil processing company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
Gas flares are the excess gases set on fire during refinement, releasing carbon dioxide and methane, two of the highest pollutants into the atmosphere. Igniting the byproduct gases and burning them is cheaper for Pemex compared to investing in the technology to properly process and store the gases for other uses.
Mexican gas and oil production has continuously used this detrimental technique to lower costs, placing local communities around the processing plant at risk. In 2015, Mexican officials, alongside numerous industrialized countries and oil companies, signed the World Bank Zero Routine Flaring Initiative – a pledge to end gas flaring globally by 2030. In the years following, Mexico failed to produce progress towards its goals and has actually increased gas flares. NASA images of gas flaring throughout Mexico were analyzed by the scientists of the Earth Observation Group of the Colorado School of Mines, finding an increase in flaring during the past three years under the Presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
President Lopez Obrador has expressed a desire to bring Mexico to power self-sufficiency, leading to an increase in Pemex refinement. Reuters reports that their studies have shown the volume of gases produced by flaring has risen by 50%. The figure increased from 3.9 billion cubic meters in 2018, the year of President Lopez Obrador’s election, to 5.8 billion cubic meters in 2020. In an interview with Reuters, Christopher Elvidge, one of the principal investigators, said the following: “There’s been a significant increase in both the number of individual flare sites and the volume of gas that is being flared in Mexico.”
With the current trajectory of rising gas emissions, Mexico has ascended to the top ten gas flaring countries worldwide and registered one of its highest-emitting months this past February. With such record-breaking statistics, Mexico has disregarded the goals set by the international environmental community, and officials from the Mexican government and Pemex have evaded questions about the rise in gas flaring. Local communities surrounding the Pemex sites are permanently affected by the glow of gas flares, leading to many deleterious health effects. The continual exposure to greenhouse gases has cursed these communities with rising headaches, coughing, and irritation of the eyes and skin. Furthermore, the gases and oil residue have polluted water resources and surrounding soil. The town of Colonia del Carmen sent an official complaint letter from all four thousand residents regarding the incidents caused by the gas flaring in September 2021, but they have yet to receive a response.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration has completely disregarded not only the international promise made to decrease greenhouse gases and gas flaring but the safety of their citizens living nearby processing sites. While most international conferences have no substantial enforcement, countries that have taken the same oaths must hold Mexico accountable for its rise in gas flaring. Mexico cannot keep increasing flaring at the current rate, and without political and economic intervention, Pemex will continue to choose the easiest and cheapest option for byproduct disposal.
