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At least 14 people have died and another 100 were injured in Mexico City after an explosion at the headquarters of Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, BBC reported.

Emergency services, assisted by dogs, are searching for people trapped in the rubble. The cause of the blast is under investigation, Pemex says.

The 54-floor Pemex Executive Tower houses hundreds of employees.

Last September, 30 people died in an explosion at a Pemex gas plant in northern Mexico.

At least 13 people were killed at the scene while another person died later in hospital, Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told reporters.

A further 100 people were injured in the explosion. It is not clear how many individuals remain trapped beneath the rubble. Some reports have placed the figure at more than 30.

Television pictures showed debris from the blast spread out on to the street in front of the building, and Red Cross ambulances on the scene attending to the injured, our correspondent in Mexico City reports.

Police have cordoned off the streets around the building, which is located in a busy commercial area of Mexico City.

At this stage there is no official explanation for the explosion, our correspondent says.

Pemex said on Thursday evening it was investigating the possible causes.

The firm's chief executive, Emilio Lozoya Austin cut short a business trip to Asia and was on his way back to Mexico, the company added.