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Oil s well that ends well

Oil industry heavyweight Pemex had to throw in the towel recently when a group of irate fisherfolk brought operations at its refinery in Salina Cruz, in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, to a grinding halt. The protesters were demanding compensation for damage which, they claim, was caused by a diesel fuel leak that occurred when a pipeline was illegally tapped last April in Juchitan, Oaxaca.

The two-day blockade at the plant severely disrupted gasoline and diesel supplies to the southern part of Mexico. It also brought about a steep reduction in the Mexican company's intake of crude oil for petroleum products

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