Mexico refinery plan on horizon

MEXICO CITY, July 6, 2018 – President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has said that by August he will present his plans to improve Mexico’s underperforming refining sector, local media reported Thursday.

In a meeting with the country’s Business Co-ordinating Council, the politician said that he would prioritise the reconfiguration and modernisation of the country’s six existing refineries to boost their capacities, and later construct two new refineries.

During the presidential campaign, Rocío Nahle, who will become Mexico’s next energy secretary, told Forbes Mexico that two 300,000-bpd refineries were on the table, for an estimated cost of USD 6 billion.

Local media have been reporting this week that those facilities will be built in Campeche and Tabasco states, where the incoming administration has already identified several potential locations.

In other news, AMLO’s pick for chief of staff, Alfonso Romo, said yesterday that he does not anticipate changes to the country’s energy reform legislation.

“I don’t see changes. If anything happens, it would be done without hurting private investment,” Romo said in an interview with Bloomberg.

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