EconomyFinancialPemex advances in its plan and its refineries mark...

Pemex advances in its plan and its refineries mark their highest production since 2017

Pemex increased the use of its refineries in January to its highest level in more than four years, according to internal company information.

The oil company’s six refining complexes processed an average of 850,000 barrels of crude oil per day during January. Thus, it is placed as the highest figure since May 2017, according to company records. Although last March it reported a slightly lower figure, of 823,000 barrels per day, which was not maintained in the following months.

The processing of crude oil in the refineries during January represents an increase of more than 100,000 barrels per day, or around 14% compared to December 2021, when 744,000 barrels per day were processed, according to the latest public report from Pemex.

The state company will make these figures public until February 25.

The increased use of refineries is in line with the goal of increasing gasoline production in the country, the fundamental part of the presidential plan to achieve what he calls energy self-sufficiency. And it is mainly due to a significant increase in the use of the Tula refinery and a larger process in the Salina Cruz complex, according to company sources.

Tula, the second refinery with the largest capacity of Pemex, had accumulated some operating problems for months. In October, the complex stopped for two weeks because, according to what the Reuters agency reported. In that month, processing in Tula fell to 63,000 barrels per day.

But despite the increase in January, the use of the complexes was below Pemex’s own perspectives, which proposed a processing of over 900,000 barrels per day during the first month of the year. That plan does not include the production of Deer Park or of Dos Bocas which, according to presidential announcements, will be inaugurated next July.

The Pemex administration and Rocío Nahle, the Secretary of Energy, had promised that Pemex’s six refineries would process between 900,000 and one million barrels per day from 2019, but the company has failed to do so. Although in recent months the process level has remained above 650,000 barrels per day.

As a result of the increased use of refineries, gasoline production also rose to its highest level since June 2017. In January, the six complexes produced an average of 290,000 barrels per day of the fuel.

This last figure implies an increase of 25% compared to December figures that already reported a significant increase in gasoline production.

According to its internal plan, Pemex wants to average fuel production for around 310,000 barrels per day this year.

As part of the increase in refining, the state company would have decreased its shipments abroad to 849,000 barrels per day during January, according to information published by Bloomberg last week. The figure implies the lowest export level since January 1990.

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