Refinery

Mexico’s state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) plans to substantially increase downstream production of refined products and fertilizer this year, according to CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza.  Romero did not offer projections for upstream oil and natural gas production during a presentation on Thursday (Jan. 4) at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference. This…

Even in the late stages of his administration, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is sticking to his state-centric energy policy that has rattled many private firms in the sector. In his penultimate state-of-the-union address to the nation last week, he said the program of “expanding the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) includes the construction…

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. is taking a 10% stake in a Chinese petrochemical company to expand its crude oil presence in the country. Aramco, as it is known, said it would pay around $3.6 billion to buy the interest in Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. Ltd.  Aramco Overseas Co. (AOC) would manage the stake. Under a long-term…

The largest U.S. refinery expansion in more than a decade has ramped up southeast of Houston at ExxonMobil’s Beaumont refining complex. The $2 billion project, considered one of the largest in the world, bumped up capacity for transportation fuels by 250,000 b/d, to total 630,000 b/d-plus. The last big refinery expansion was in 2012. “ExxonMobil…

Upstream oil and natural gas employment in Texas grew in October, with 2,800 jobs added for the month, according to state data. The gains in oil and gas extraction, as well as support jobs, were even more impressive after the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) revised upward the job gains in September to 2,200 from an…

Houston-based Par Pacific Holdings Inc. is snapping up ExxonMobil’s 63,000 b/d Billings, MT, oil refinery and associated assets to expand and diversify its portfolio. The transaction also is to include hydrocarbons and inventory, which would be valued at closing.  Par’s total throughput capacity would increase to 218,000 b/d. More than $30 million in commercial and…

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s campaign promise of a refinery for his home state of Tabasco is being delivered this week. The 340,000 b/d Olmeca refinery in Dos Bocas will be inaugurated on Friday, July 1, exactly four years after López Obrador won the presidency. “With president López Obrador inaugurating his flagship Olmeca refinery,…

Mexico’s Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) had yet another disastrous financial result in the fourth quarter, but executives in a conference call said they were buoyed by upstream results and were planning to spend more this year to get more oil and gas out of the ground. Capital expenditures (capex) for this year are pegged at “levels…

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column by Eduardo Prud’homme as part of a regular series on understanding this process. The opinions and positions expressed by Prud’homme do not necessarily reflect the views of NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index. A few days…