Spotlight: The painfully slow progress of Mexico's US$20bn Dos Bocas refinery

The Olmeca refinery in the Mexican port of Dos Bocas processed less than 60,000b/d of crude in November, not even a fifth of its nameplate capacity of 340,000b/d.

The refinery cost national oil company Pemex an estimated US$20bn to build, more than double the initial budget when works began in 2019.

The plant, which was originally expected to be operational in 2022, began processing oil last June at a rate of 9,000b/d.

Analysts have blamed the project for diverting Pemex from more profitable investments in exploration and production. 

In November, the refinery produced just under 1,600b/d of gasoline and 7,000b/d of diesel, according to statistics released by Pemex in late December.

Source: BNamericas based on Pemex data

Construction of the refinery was the cornerstone of the strategy of previous president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to make Mexico self-sufficient in fuels and eliminate imports.

The current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office October 1, is committed to her predecessor's strategy of boosting Mexico's so-called energy sovereignty.

Olmeca is Mexico's seventh refinery. Pemex operates all of them and the Deer Park refinery in Houston that it acquired in early 2022.

In November, Pemex CEO Víctor Rodríguez Padilla said the company would start operating a second crude train at the refinery by the end of that month.

In October, because of maintenance works on the first train, the refinery processed no crude at all.

Pemex will release refining statistics for December on January 27.