The Council on Ethics recommends that the Mexican company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) be excluded from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) due to an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to, or is itself responsible for, gross corruption.
Pemex is a fully integrated oil and gas company. As Pemex is wholly owned by the Mexican state, the Council does not hold shares, but owns fixed-income securities in the company.
The Council on Ethics’ investigations have revealed that Pemex may be linked to multiple allegations or suspicions of corruption in Mexico in the period 2004–2023. The Council attaches importance to the fact that a significant number of company employees, including a former senior executive, are alleged to have received bribes on several separate occasions.
Governance of the company is subject to extensive political influence, which, in the Council’s view, increases the risk that normal control mechanisms may be set aside. In light of this, the Council considers that Pemex has failed to provide sufficient information to demonstrate that financial irregularities are dealt with satisfactorily. Even though Pemex has an anti-corruption system that appears to contain many of the elements required by internationally recognised guidelines, the Council also considers that the company grants too little insight into how this system works in practice.
The Council on Ethics issued its recommendation on 18 November 2024. Norges Bank announced its decision to exclude the company on 11 May 2025.