Pemex’s Dos Bocas to Reach Full Production By End of March: CEO

By Bloomberg

Jan 20, 2024

image is BloomburgMedia_S7KSZTT1UM0W00_21-01-2024_05-00-15_638413920000000000.jpg

The Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Dos Bocas Olmeca refinery in the town of Paraiso, Tabasco state, Mexico, on Friday, July 1, 2022. The refinery will have the capacity to process 340,000 barrels a day of crude, which would add about 20% to its current refining capacity in Mexico.

(Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos’ Dos Bocas refinery will begin producing commercial fuel in the coming weeks and reach maximum production capacity by the end of March, Chief Executive Officer Octavio Romero Oropeza said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.

“We are very excited because in a few more weeks this great refinery, this great work, will begin commercial production,” Romero said. “First we will start producing diesel, then regular gasoline, and then by the end of March,” the refinery will be producing at full capacity.

The refinery, also known as Olmeca and located in Tabasco state, began producing fuel in September, more than a year after it was inaugurated. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had promised the refinery would process as much as 290,000 barrels per day by the end of last year, although independent observers have said the refinery should only reach full rates in late 2024 or 2025.

Pemex’s refineries have been running at some of their lowest utilization rates since 2020, after a spate of accidents slowed production. Pemex expects fuel output to increase about 60% this year to around 1.05 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel per day, Romero said in a press briefing earlier this month.

By Scott Squires