The US prevents Pemex from spilling fuel oil


In 2021, fuel oil exports from Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) grew 44% to 157,000 barrels per day on average, their highest level in at least a decade, despite the fact that the markets in which said fuel can be sold were limited.

Last year, the production of this heavy fuel grew 39% to 244,000 barrels per day, which represented 30.3% of the state’s refined production, according to the company’s institutional database.

Pemex had a bittersweet 2021, as it managed to raise its crude oil process for the first time since 2013, but in an unprecedented event, fuel oil became the first product produced in the company’s refineries, surpassing gasoline and diesel.

The volume of crude oil processed in the system of six Pemex refineries grew 20.6% to 712,000 barrels per day, which allowed the state company to raise its percentage of refining capacity use to 43.4%, from the historical low of 36% in 2021.

The increase in Pemex fuel oil exports has been possible thanks to the fact that it has found a market in US refineries, since since 2020 this residual fuel can no longer be sold as fuel for ships.

This is because ships can no longer use fuel oils with a high sulfur content (more than 0.5%), according to new rules issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

In general, the fuel oil produced by Pemex does not comply with said regulation, in addition to the fact that only three of its refineries have coking units that allow it to obtain a greater quantity of distillates from said residual fuel.

Instead, many US refineries are properly configured to reprocess fuel oil into higher-value refiners.

According to figures from the United States Census Bureau, last year that country imported Mexican fuel oil worth 2,676 million dollars, a figure 144% higher than that registered in 2020.

Pemex reported that in 2021 each barrel of fuel oil it exported was sold at an average price of 55.5 dollars, an amount that was 97% higher than that observed in 2020.

The increase in Pemex fuel oil exports has been possible thanks to the fact that it has found a market in US refineries, since since 2020 this residual fuel can no longer be sold as fuel for ships.

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