Pemex Gives Processing Forecast for Newest Oil Refinery

By Julianne Geiger - Jan 04, 2024, 

Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex said on Thursday that its newest refinery—with a nameplate processing capacity of 340,000 bpd, will process 243,000 bpd this year before achieving full capacity in 2025.

The country’s newest refinery has been hailed as one of Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s critical achievements on the country’s quest to sever the yoke of imported fuels—a large chunk of which comes from the United States.

According to a presentation given by Pemex CEO Octavio Romero, the Olmeca refinery is expected to be producing 274,000 bpd of diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel by September, when President Obrador is set to leave office—a feat that will help solidify his legacy.

The presentation also said, however, that by year’s end, fuel output would dip to 208,000 bpd. For 2024, the new Olmeca refinery will increase Pemex’s overall processing to 1.5 million bpd—a sizeable 40% increase over 2023 processing rates.

The Pemex presentation estimated that the company’s petroleum liquids production averaged 1.88 million bpd last year and that its proven oil reserves will stay at 7.4 billion boe in 2024.

The Olmeca refinery—also referred to as Dos Bocas refinery, is located in the state of Tabasco and originally had an estimated cost of $8 billion. But billions in cost overruns and delays saw the price tag reach upwards of $12 billion by the time the project was complete. The refinery was originally scheduled to begin in mid-2022, but eventually delayed into late 2023.

Olmeca has a total capacity of processing 340,000 bpd of crude oil and a production capacity of 170,000 bpd of gasoline and 120,000 bpd of diesel. 

U.S. energy exports to Mexico totaled $55.8 billion in 2022, according to the EIA.