Pemex to tender another refinery upgrade project

Nov. 15, 1999
Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos plans to seek tenders for the upgrade and expansion of its Minatitlan refinery on the Gulf Coast, says Pemex Director Adrian Lajous.

Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos plans to seek tenders for the upgrade and expansion of its Minatitlan refinery on the Gulf Coast, says Pemex Director Adrian Lajous.

The Minatitlan project, first announced last year, was later postponed (OGJ, Apr. 12, 1999, p. 29).

"Pemex is now ready to tender the Minatitlan project. We were waiting for the right financial conditions," said Lajous.

He also said, however, that the expansion and reconfiguration of the Santa Cruz refinery will not be tendered during this administration.

Mexico holds presidential elections in July 2000, and the new administration will take office in December of that year.

The Minatitlan and Santa Cruz projects were the last of the six refinery upgrades Pemex had planned in an attempt to expand its refining system. In particular, Mexico aims to boost its capacity to refine heavy Maya-grade crude and produce more high-octane gasoline, thus helping to reduce Mexico's dependence on gasoline imports from the US.

Lajous added that the Cadereyta refinery project in northern Mexico is 86-87% done and would be completed in June 2000, while a similar project at the Madero refinery in Tamau- lipas state will be completed in October 2001.

The remaining two projects, the Tula and Salamanca refineries, were awarded recently to South Korea's Samsung Engineering Corp. Those contracts will be signed this week, says Lajous.