DROP: Oil refining in Mexico’s state-owned refineries fell from 657,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July 2019 to 534,000 bpd in July 2020, a decline of 18 percent, according to data from the Mexican Ministry of Energy. The drop occurred despite the López Obrador’s goal to boost production.
BUDGET: Although demand for refined fuels fell due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, analysts believe that the drop in the refining output of Pemex -the state-owned oil company- was more due to insufficient budget and and inefficient maintenance practices.
INVESTMENT: “It goes beyond the issue of demand. The state of the refineries at the time the (López Obrador) government received them was such that it required an investment much greater than that awarded”, said Adrián Calcáneo, lead for the Latin America’s midstream oil team at IHS Markit.
UTILIZATION: In July 2020, the utilization capacity of Mexico’s six refineries was 34.7 percent, calculated at 1.54 million barrels per day. The most extreme case was that of Tula, located in the central state of Hidalgo, which operated at 10.6 percent of its capacity.
