Mexico’s Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) had yet another disastrous financial result in the fourth quarter, but executives in a conference call said they were buoyed by upstream results and were planning to spend more this year to get more oil and gas out of the ground.

Pemex

Capital expenditures (capex) for this year are pegged at “levels above” 200 billion pesos ($9.7 billion), CFO Alberto Velázquez said. He said this is a result of the “highest budget approved for exploration and production.” In 2021, capex was 161 billion pesos, with 2020 capex of 122 billion pesos.

Pemex executives said they are working to improve natural gas production partly through improving gas capture rates. Natural gas production in the fourth quarter was 3.72 Bcf/d, up 2.3% compared with the same...