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Mexico's presidential front-runner aims to cut oil refinery waste, advisor says

Mexico's governmental frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum prepares to purchase stateowned Pemex' oil refineries to lower the substantial volumes of lowvalue fuels produced and rather improve the output of motor fuels, one of her advisors stated.

Pemex has actually been producing record levels of heavy fuels, such as the especially polluting fuel oil, as its local refineries battle to process the heavy Maya crude it pumps.

In 2015, Pemex produced 260,285 barrels per day (bpd) of fuel oil - going beyond the production of gasoline at 252,203 bpd.

Thought about a waste product, in Mexico fuel oil is generally scorched for electrical energy generation.

Refineries are very pricey and essential assets to reach energy self-sufficiency, said Jorge Islas, the energy organizer for Sheinbaum, in an interview on Wednesday.

Islas, a physicist and physician in economics, indicated the possibility of constructing a brand-new coking unit at the Salamanca refinery to increase gasoline and diesel production. Presently, the refinery is operating at just over half of its capability.

Coking units are able to process the heavier hydrocarbons coming out of distillation towers into higher-value products, including motor fuels.

Under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Pemex has invested billions of dollars to restore its six outdated domestic refineries. Refining has been a loss-making organization for Pemex for many years.

In order to wean the nation off pricey imports, Pemex likewise formally inaugurated the brand-new Dos Bocas refinery in July 2022, in spite of running late and over budget by several billions of dollars. While the 340,000-bpd refinery is functional, it does not yet produce finished fuels.

Pemex currently has two new coking plants in Salamanca and Tula which are anticipated to come into operation between this year and next.

Lopez Obrador had guaranteed that Mexico would attain energy sovereignty during his six-year term. Nevertheless, a couple of months before he leaves workplace on Oct. 1, the goals appear complex to achieve even as refineries have actually enhanced their efficiency.

The 6 regional refineries together have the capacity to process 1.6 million bpd. Nevertheless, in the first two months of this year, they processed approximately 945,000 bpd - above the 612,000 bpd in 2018 they processed before Lopez Obrador took office but still well listed below capacity.

With the Dos Bocas refinery set to totally operate this year, and Pemex also wanting more unrefined for its other refineries, it has actually asked its industrial system TRI to cut crude exports this month by 436,000 bpd.

The federal government prepares to continue reducing its exports, which amounted to 945,000 bpd in the very first two months of this year.

Islas repeated that according to Sheinbaum's plan, production would be at around 1.8 million bpd of crude oil and condensate even after there have actually been couple of big discoveries of reserves.

Smaller sized reserves are being found each time, at greater depth, with higher costs, stated Islas.

What is being thought about is the energy shift from fossils to renewables, he said. Keep a fixed hydrocarbon production platform, make better usage of the energy and cover the new need with renewable resource.

Asked about the finances of the highly indebted Pemex, Islas stated that a Sheinbaum federal government would search for aid plans and better choices.

But assistance can't be everlasting and the business needs to enhance, show it can be accountable, he said.

(source: Reuters)