Pemex’s Crown Jewel Is Making Zero Fuel as Refinery Flounders
- Shutdown of Dos Bocas has refineries operating below capacity
- Mexico’s newest refinery has seen series of setbacks
The Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) Dos Bocas Olmeca refinery in the town of Paraiso, Tabasco state, Mexico in 2022.
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Production at Petroleos Mexicanos’s new and largest refinery came to a sudden halt in September, threatening the country’s pledge to cut imports of gasoline and diesel.
The Olmeca refinery processed no crude oil in September, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg. The outage weighed down on Mexico’s fuelmaking capacity. It’s seven refineries on average operated below half of installed capacity when utilization reached 43.9%, the lowest in 11 months. In comparison, fuelmakers in the US are running near 90%.