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Mexico's brand-new Pemex refinery still needs crucial work, is far from all set, sources say

Mexican state energy business Pemex is unlikely to produce any commercially feasible motor fuels at its new Olmeca refinery before completion of the year, five sources said, regardless of pressure that it ought to be ready before the outbound president's term ends. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a resource nationalist, inaugurated the 340,000 barrelperday refinery in July 2022 in his home state Tabasco, billing it as vital to energy selfsufficiency for Mexico. However, hold-ups at the refinery in the port of Dos Bocas, whose expense has more than doubled to $16.8 billion, implies it will be up to his follower Claudia Sheinbaum to try to make the dream a. truth when she takes office on Oct. 1.

As recently as last Thursday, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero. insisted throughout a market event the refinery would work at. full capability next month.

Now, 5 sources acquainted with the operations told . that it was difficult to fulfill these targets which progress. had been overemphasized ahead of the June presidential election.

Neither Pemex nor the president's office reacted to. ask for remark.

Two sources with in-depth knowledge of the operations stated. engineers were still dealing with private parts of the refinery. and will then face the even larger obstacle of linking them.

Among the sources, an engineer, described this last action as. a hugely intricate and agonizing procedure of experimentation that. takes months.

The other source, likewise an engineer, said that in the most. optimistic circumstance the first of 2 assembly line of the. refinery would be ready in between October and November.

Technically and operationally, the refinery is great so far. but the issue is the expectations that have been produced, the. source said.

He added that the info shared openly by officials. does not take into consideration more technical requirements around. how a refinery works.

Pemex officials had actually sought to show the refinery was. operational by bringing a freight of high-sulfur diesel to the. Olmeca refinery to be developed into ultra-low-sulfur diesel but. this was not produced from petroleum as is the plan.

Parts that still need work consist of the fluid catalytic. breaking plant, where heavy petroleum portions are transformed. into lighter products, and the hydrodesulfurization plant where. sulfur is gotten rid of under high pressure and high-temperature.

Another obstacle for engineers will be the coker plant that. converts and processes residual fuel oil, the source said.

NATIONAL PRIDE

The refinery is by far the biggest of various energy. projects running behind schedule and the two sources stated Mexico. would not follow through with hundreds of thousands of barrels. of crude oil export cuts but continue importing diesel and. gasoline instead.

None of the sources said the construction of the refinery. was inherently flawed and that it is prematurely to determine how. the hold-up would affect public finances because refining margins. are not known.

Independent specialists have long argued Pemex, a matter of. nationwide pride for many Mexicans, must instead have actually invested. in a lot more profitable exploration and production rather of. refining.

There were also issues over simply how rushed the task. was, sources said, and how its progress had been overemphasized for. political factors which has actually interrupted markets. In March, Pemex ordered its trading arm to cancel exports of. 436,000 barrels of petroleum it stated it required for the domestic. refineries. In April, it revealed export cuts of another. 330,000 barrels, just to backtrack shortly later on. Then, Pemex requested just 16,300 bpd of petroleum for the new. Olmeca refinery as of mid-May - almost 1% of what the state. business pumps and less than 5% of its capability.

Among the sources, a trader knowledgeable about the export. schedule, said the refinery was so delayed that it was now not. even able to take in such a small load.

Despite being a crude oil manufacturer, Mexico imports most of. its motor fuels. In 2015, it exported crude oil worth more. than $31 billion and imported numerous types hydrocarbon products. - including fuel and diesel - worth just under $31 billion.

Lopez Obrador, who has actually staked his legacy on saving. debt-laden Pemex and making Mexico self-dependent in energy,. had actually promised shortly after taking office in late 2018 that the. refinery would be constructed in a record time of 3 years.

Proposals from several private companies were deemed too. pricey, with Lopez Obrador arguing that cost savings from his. fight to root out corruption would make the refinery cheaper. The final price, nevertheless, will be much higher than those. proposals.

In another problem for his agenda, new coker plants focused on. increasing the performance of two older refineries, Tula and Salina. Cruz, are likewise still not prepared, 2 different sources stated.

Pemex's other ailing refineries - consisting of one that went. online 118 years ago - struggle to efficiently process the heavy. sour Maya crude Pemex pumps. They leave the country with volumes. of extremely contaminating fuel oil that are so big, they exceed. gasoline and diesel production.

Sheinbaum

strategies to invest

in Pemex' refineries to minimize output of low-value fuels. and by-products, including the fuel oil state energy CFE uses to. create power, and rather increase production of motor fuels, one. of her advisors stated.

(source: Reuters)