Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, July 26 -- Mexico's gasoline imports increased by 92.1% to 357,000 b/d in June 2006 from 185,000 b/d in June 2006, according to Mexico City's El Financiero newspaper, which attributes the rise to a lack of domestic refining capacity and decreased oil production.
Stressing demand growth, the paper said the average volume of gasoline imports during first half 2006 stood at 293,900 b/d, up more than fivefold over 2001 when the total was 54,500 b/d. It said no new refineries had been built in 20 years, and that the country has just six refineries operating.
In June, it said, Mexico consumed 820,400 b/d, but Pemex refineries produced just 463,200 b/d or about 56.4%, with the remainder supplied through imports.
In general, the paper reported, an average of 204,700 b/d of gasoline was imported in 2006 at a cost of $10 billion or nearly one third of the $34.705 billion in foreign exchange Mexico earned from its own oil exports.
The decline in gasoline production follows also from a decline in oil production, the paper said, claiming that production declined by 2.8% in June, compared with June 2006, to 3.624 million b/d.
It said Pemex exported 1.737 million b/d in June, some 39,000 b/d less than the June 2006 total of 1.776 million b/d. During this year's first half, Mexico's oil exports stood at 1.718 million b/d, more than 200,000 b/d lower than the 1.907 million b/d exported in first half 2006.
On a more positive note, El Financero said Mexico's June imports of gas registered a 40% reduction compared with June 2006, declining to 390.4 bcf from 683.4 bcf.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
