Pemex Exploracion y Produccion can’t recover hundreds of millions of dollars lost on Mexican condensate smuggled across the Texas border by bandits and sold to Shell Chemical LP, ConocoPhillips Co., BASF Corp. and other buyers that didn’t know the feedstock was stolen, a federal appeals court ruled.
A Houston federal judge threw out the claims last year after finding Mexico’s national oil company waited too long to pursue US buyers of its stolen natural gas liquids, after it failed to halt the thefts on its side of the border.
The judge also found Pemex couldn’t trace its stolen product to specific purchases by the US companies, as was required by law.
The New Orleans appeals court heard oral arguments in Pemex’s case Wednesday and upheld the lower court’s decision in a two-sentence order Thursday.
The case is Pemex v ConocoPhillips, 14-20417, US. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans).
