Mexico’s state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) posted a rare 14 billion-peso ($719 million) profit in the second quarter thanks to higher sales revenue. The oil giant had posted a $2 billion loss in the year-ago quarter. 

pemex flaring

Oil production rose to 1.736 million b/d in the second quarter compared with 1.673 million b/d in the second quarter of 2020. 

During an earnings call Wednesday, company executives attributed the production gains to recovery efforts at mature fields, in addition to growing production from 20 “priority” or new fields.

Priority field production rose to 216,000 b/d at the end of June, compared to 57,500 b/d last June.

Executives said that the strategy to focus on shallow water and onshore fields instead of on deepwater has been “a great...