Pemex’s 2023 Crude Processing Rate Falls 3% — OPIS

Revitalizing Pemex’s aging infrastructure and increasing the company’s fuel production has been among the administration’s key goals.

Pemex said its 315,000-b/d Tula refinery led the company’s fleet in 2023, processing an average of 190,967 b/d of oil, up 6.4% from a year ago.

The company’s 190,000 b/d Madero refinery had the lowest processing rate last year, running at an average rate of 75,646 b/d, down 22% from the same period 2022.

Pemex said it produced an average of 252,200 b/d of gasoline, 134, 562 b/d of diesel, and 36,259 b/d of jet fuel last year. Gasoline and diesel production were down 7% and 8.1%, respectively, from 2022.

The refineries also produced an average of 260,702 b/d of fuel oil in 2023, accounting for 32% of the company’s total output.

Pemex Chief Executive Octavio Romero Oropeza in early January said he expects Pemex to process an average of 1.5 million b/d of crude oil this year, including output from its new, but still not fully operations, 340,000 b/d Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco state and its Deer Park refinery near Houston.

He said he expects Pemex’s six older refineries will account for 1 million b/d of that total.

Lopez Obrador has said he wants Mexico to become self-sufficient in fuel production before he leaves office in September. Pemex has projected the country will import an average of 300,000 b/d of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel this year, before imports fall to an average of 62,000 b/d in September.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

–Reporting by Karla Omaña, [email protected]; Editing by Jeff Barber, [email protected]