Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex on July 27 reported a 163.16 billion peso (US$8.2 billion) net loss for the second quarter due to foreign exchange losses and higher costs, according to a filing with the Mexican stock exchange.

That compares with a profit of 32.76 billion pesos in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 36% from a year earlier to 436.18 billion pesos on the back of higher crude prices and increased sales in Mexico. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, increased 42% to 149.76 billion pesos.

Pemex’s crude production slipped 7.3% in the quarter to an average of 1.866 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d), while natural gas production fell 9.7% to 3.915 billion cubic feet per day.

Meanwhile, crude processing at the company's six refineries dipped 22.2% to 704,000 bbl/d during the quarter despite a processing capacity of about 1.6 MMbbl/d.

By comparison, Pemex’s annual crude processing in 2017 averaged 776,000 bbl/d compared with 962,000 bbl/d in 2016.

($1 = 19.8730 pesos at the end of June)