Mexico City.- The reduction in gasoline imports could trigger foreign purchases of Methyl Terbutyl Ether (MTBE), considered Argus.
When the Olmeca refinery, in Dos Bocas, Tabasco, begins to produce gasoline and the other six increase their production, a drop in fuel imports may be observed, he said.
However, it could trigger the demand for MTBE or other types of oxygenants to be mixed with the low-quality gasoline produced in the Country in order to achieve the octane rating necessary for its commercialization.
Roel Salazar, Argus Fuels and Octane consultant, pointed out that MTBE will be the “new” most imported product, so a dependence on foreign items will remain.
“The import of gasoline changed in percentage due to the production of gasoline in the refineries, and will continue to change in the short and long terms, depending on when we see gasoline production in the new Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery, which may be in this year or until the next,” the specialist pointed out.
However, he considered that it is possible that gasoline imports will increase again in the future due to the gradual increase in demand in the country and the possibility that national production will not increase to that extent.
Currently, gasoline is being imported to points such as Tuxpan, Coatzacoalcos, San Juan de Ulúa, among others, and a minimum amount of MTBE is also introduced into the country there.
Last year, Mexico imported around one million 225 thousand tons of oxygenant.
However, the consulting firm’s specialist estimated that in nine years the purchases made of MTBE will increase by 66.3 percent.
As of last April, the latest data available, 312 thousand barrels of gasoline were imported per day, according to information from Pemex.
The figure is the lowest so far this year and represents a drop of 20.2 percent compared to the 391 thousand barrels that were imported in the same month last year, according to reports from the oil company.
Since the beginning of the Government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, it was said that, as part of the promises of the six-year term, self-sufficiency in fuels would be achieved.
This means that all of the country’s fuel demand would be supplied with national production.
However, although it was reported that this goal would be met this year, imports have not been eliminated.
The Dos Bocas refinery is designed to produce 170 thousand barrels of gasoline and 120 thousand barrels of diesel per day, but it has faced delays since its construction was completed.
Although it was inaugurated in July 2022, it still does not produce a single barrel of fuel.
Initially, it was estimated that Mexico’s seventh refinery would cost around 8 billion dollars, but a budget of 18.9 billion has been implemented.
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