The photo is sourced from pulsenewsmexico.com
The halt to exports will be linked to the launch of new oil refineries and petrochemical facilities.
“In 2023 and 2024, practically all of the Pemex production is going to be processed, going to be refined,” Romero told the gathering. “A new oil refinery in Dos Bocas will begin operations as will a (petrochemical complex) in Cangrejera. Practically 100 percent of Mexican crude will be refined in our country to guarantee the supply of fuel.”
The refinery in the locality of Dos Bocas on Mexico’s east coast is set to open on 1st July 2022. Once its operations reach planned full capacity, the plant will be able to refine 340,000 barrels of oil a day and produce 170,000 bpd of petrol and 120,000 bpd of low-sulphur diesel. Construction of the plant is expected to cost $12.4 billion, Argus reported.
The Cangrejera complex will be specialised in production of aromatic hydrocarbons used as intermediate raw materials for the petrochemical industry, including benzene (95,940 bpd), toluene (3,020 bpd) and hexane (1,450 bpd).
Mexico is North America’s third largest oil exporter: in 2020, the country exported 1.1 million bpd of raw materials, less than the United States (3.1 million bpd) and Canada (3.8 million bpd).
The main consumer of Mexican oil is the United States – in 2020, the United States accounted for 58 % of all Mexican oil exports. Europe and India account for a further 15 % and 14 % and all other countries – 13%., according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy.
Regardless, Mexico remains a net importer of oil products – in 2020, the volume of exports from Mexico (114,000 bpd) was only one-tenth the volume of imports (1.1 million bpd).
The load of Mexican oil refineries remains far behind planned capacity. In 2020, the country’s six operating plants refined 591,000 bpd, while total capacity stood at 1.56 million bpd. The National Plan for development of oil refining intends to right all that – included in that plan is the construction of the oil refinery at Dos Bokas.
The plan calls for bringing overall capacity for benzine production to 781,000 bpd and for 560,000 bpd for diesel production in 2022. By the same token, Mexico will be able to reduce dependence on imports of oil and oil products.
A halt to Pemex’s exports could make the operations of American refineries on the Gulf of Mexico coast more difficult as they are aimed primarily at refining high-sulphur raw material. Mexican exports to the United States are based heavily on Maya crude oil, which has greater sulphur content than WTI (3.3 % compared to 0.2 % , according to S&P Global Platts).
