PULSE NEWS MEXICO
Mexico’s dependency on imported gasoline — mainly from the United States — has increased by 28 percent annually based on the figures from January to October of this year, data from the country’s Energy Secretariat revealed on Friday, Dec 2.
During the first 10 months of 2022, imports of gasoline by the state-run Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) increased 28.0 percent compared to the comparable period of 2021, while those of diesel increased by 64.9 percent annually, reflecting a growing dependency by the oil company to satisfy domestic demand for fuel, and this trend is only expected to continue, according to experts.
Ramsés Pech, an analyst at Caraiva y Asociados, warned that the government’s six refineries of the National Refining System (SNR) operate at just 50 percent of their capacity and, together with what is brought from the Deer Park facility in Texas, only produce enough to cover 34 percent of the national demand for gasoline and 39 percent of that for diesel.
“Of the 820,000 barrels of gasoline consumed each day in the Mexican market, we only produce 282,000, so we have to import approximately 66 percent of what we need,” he explained.
“For diesel, the case is similar, of the 410,000 barrels per day needed, we only produce 151,000, so we have import the remaining 61 percent.”
Pech explained that in order to achieve the goal of the administration of leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of stopping the import of fuels by next year, in addition to starting up the Cangrejera and Dos Bocas plants, Pemex must have all six SNR refineries operating at 84 percent and bring in all the refined product from Deer Park.
“In addition, all six refineries would have to improve their utilization by 34 percent for next year, when the improvement from 2021 to 2022 was only 6 percent. At this rate, it would take us at least five years to reach the ideal utilization of these plants,” he said.
“We will not achieve the goal. The president has already admitted that the Cangrejera refinery, located in Veracruz, will not be operating during his administration, and it is also unlikely that Dos Bocas will operate commercially and that we will receive all the production from Deer Park.”
Pech said that Mexico needs 1.55 million barrels of crude oil per day to satisfy the fuels demanded for national consumption, plus the 900,000 barrels that the Finance Secretariat has already earmarked for export.
Notwithstanding, due to the growing imports of fuels by Pemex, the Energy Regulatory Commission has been hindering the entry of gasoline and diesel to private agents.
During the first 10 months of the year, private gasoline imports fell 25.4 percent annually, while those of diesel fell 11.9 percent.