Mexico's Fuel Trafficking Phenomenon: Analysing an Emerging Black Market

Fuel trafficking has consolidated in recent years as a paramount illegal enterprise and a priority for Mexico´s diverse criminal actors. This black market has been growing at an overwhelming pace in Mexico since 2011: it is estimated that between 2013–2018, more than 100 million barrels containing different fuels were stolen from the country´s refineries, terminals and pipelines.
This academic book focuses on finding explanations as to how this came to be. By examining the Mexican fuel black market, one of the largest and most sophisticated criminal enterprises of its kind worldwide, this timely investigation shines a light on this recently relevant criminal market, which has been detected across the world, including in North and South America, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. This book will prove of relevance for readers interested in energy and security, illicit markets, criminality, modern-day Mexico and the challenges posed by the country´s security crisis. At a wider level, this work contributes with insights on the diversification and sophistication of criminality and black markets in Mexico, Latin America and the world.

Samuel León Sáez is an independent researcher working on energy and public security issues. He holds an MPhil in Latin American studies from the University of Oxford, UK, where he was awarded the Crawley prize for Outstanding Dissertation. He has been published Mexican outlets such as Revista Nexos.