Hidalgo edged out Guanajuato last year as the state with the highest incidence of pipeline taps, a total of 2,121, and has hung on to the dubious title in the first few weeks of 2019, with 164 out of the 569 throughout Mexico.

Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza told reporters yesterday that from 2016 to the present, 80% of pipeline taps have occurred in the states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Veracruz, México state and Tamaulipas.

The frequency has soared from 6,848 in 2016, to 10,923 in 2017 and 14,894 in 2018.

Of the 2,121 pipeline taps in Hidalgo last year, 23 were in Tlahuelilpan, the site of an explosion Friday that left at least 91 dead. Romero said the town has long been a coveted place for fuel thieves because it is the meeting point of four pipelines along a stretch of approximately six kilometers.

He added that Tlahuelilpan has been the site of several other pipeline explosions and fires in past years, including one on December 17 that took 12 hours to extinguish.

President López Obrador told the press conference that the federal government recovered 17,100 barrels of oil in the first 19 days of 2019 in its strategy to combat fuel theft — more than double the 6,500 barrels it recovered in January of 2018.

Source: Milenio (sp)