Mexico's Pemex reaches 'favorable' agreement with workers over pay - Reuters

Mexico's Pemex reaches 'favorable' agreement with workers over pay | Reuters

Mexico's Pemex reaches 'favorable' agreement with workers over pay

The logo of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is pictured at the company's headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

- Companies

MEXICO CITY, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Mexican energy company Pemex has reached an agreement over pay that is "favorable" for oil workers, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.

Salaries and pension obligations have added to Pemex's mounting debt challenges. By the end of June, Pemex reported that it had put $78.3 billion aside to cover employee benefits.

"An agreement that was also favorable for oil workers was reached," Lopez Obrador said during his regular morning press conference but gave no details.

A Pemex source confirmed to Reuters that an agreement had been reached but added that it needed to finalize legal steps to make the outcome official.

Backed by an implicit government guarantee, Pemex is one of the largest employers in Mexico as well as the world's most indebted energy company.

Pemex negotiated most of its pensions with the powerful oil workers' union years ago, when oil prices were higher and life expectancy was lower.

But over the past decade and a half crude output has fallen while the company's liabilities have mounted.

Reporting by Raul Cortes, Stefanie Eschenbacher and Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Mark Porter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.