Why Mexican gas station suppliers association Ampes is pumped for 2024

Mexican gas station suppliers association Ampes expects a positive 2024, as members are set to resume projects.

Upgrades of normal stations to multimodal ones, which sell LPG and natural gas, are also planned.

In this interview, Ampes head Alicia Zazueta talks about the market, regulations and the upcoming presidential elections.

BNamericas: What’s the outlook for the year?

Zazueta: We are the most important association in the country that integrates the supply of petroleum products, but we also handle LPG, serve transportation, distribution, commercialization, storage, etc. We have the most important suppliers in the country. The association has been working for the benefit of Mexico’s energy sector for more than 31 years.

We see an optimistic panorama. I think it will be a positive year. We are seeing opportunities, especially investment in technology changes, in equipment updates. And gas station entrepreneurs are looking at how to grow their businesses, with new or modernized points of sale.

We are also seeing interest in the gas sector, but in multimodal stations. What do I mean by this? Today we have a conventional service station that only sells gasoline and diesel, but there is an interest in also selling LPG, natural gas and convert facilities into multimodal ones.

We always make ourselves available to business owners to help them move in this direction, which is the future. And just as there are opportunities in this sense, we also see that service stations are still needed in many locations in the country and that is where, gas station owners tell us, the opportunities are.

BNamericas: How far is Ampes' reach?

Zazueta: Our business partners serve the majority of the market. We are talking about 13,800 business partners in Mexico. We, as Ampes, reach all gas stations through our partners. In addition, we professionalize the sector through continuous training, either with face-to-face events in cities to talk … [about] regulation and other topics, and we do webinars.

BNamericas: Do you work with the federal government or local administrations to build new gas stations?

Zazueta: Ampes is invited to roundtable discussions with authorities because we are a technical support arm. Right now, for example, we are working with [safety, energy and environment agency] Asea on the modification of standard 5, which addresses design, construction, operation and maintenance.

We are also invited to work with [energy regulator] CRE, federal consumer defense agency Profeco, [grid control center] Cenace and the general standards office because our suppliers have technical specialization, contribute ideas for improvement. That is to say, our suppliers, our partners, are the experts who know where a standard is going to hit.

BNamericas: What about the government’s so-called welfare gas stations in remote areas? Are you participating in these projects?

Zazueta: There wasn't really a dialogue. It was an initiative of the executive where they considered that, through cooperatives in some municipalities and uses and customs, there was a need to build a service station and the federal government would manage and carry out the works, while the locals would operate it. In that sense, the federal government did not really need support or working groups and hold meetings with associations like ours or any other.

BNamericas: What are the opportunities this year?

Zazueta: This year, we are seeing gas station owners’ interest in restarting projects that were on hold. Why did they leave them on hold? Because CRE permits were not coming. Right now, CRE permitting is more dynamic, and that has encouraged gas station owners to look at those projects [again]. And this year, we believe that there will be interesting investments to build new service station projects.

BNamericas: And the challenges?

Zazueta: In this search to grow business with our clients, there are always some difficulties which relate to lagging regulations. There is little administrative ease and agility, in municipalities, states and at the federal level.

BNamericas: Regarding a mandatory quota of ethanol in the fuel mixture, Mexican authorities have refused to review the quality specifications of fuels as established by local standards and have left unchanged a regulation that allows ethanol content of 5.8%. What’s the association’s view?

Zazueta: At Ampes, we have promoted the integration of ethanol with a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% diesel. In fuels, it is something that we have promoted, and currently CRE has a standard that approves 5.8%, which really does not help much. It is a very low mixture. We want 10%, as in the US. We see that mix as viable.

BNamericas: And what’s your view on presidential candidates Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez?

Zazueta: This year will obviously be very, very important. It’s a super interesting political transition, where the competition is only between two candidates, so this year is shaping up to become the year in which Mexico will get a female president for the first time. Personally, I like that point. But not only that. Both candidates, from my very particular point of view, know the energy sector.

They have good ideas, especially technical ones. There are clean energy issues that dominate. So, I think that's going to be a good sign for the sector.

BNamericas: What information could you give us about Ampes’ ExpoGas 2024 event in Guadalajara?

Zazueta: It will take place at Universidad Intercontinental Presidente on Friday, March 22. It is an extensive agenda from 8 o’clock in the morning until 6 o’clock in the afternoon. We’ll discuss fiscal issues, economic issues, regulatory issues, volumetric controls, storage tanks, measurement management systems, multimodal stations.

And, well, we invite everyone. About 200 gas entrepreneurs will participate. We will also have a small exhibition of the services and products offered by our members. Right now, we are fine-tuning the last details. We invite your entire audience and all business owners so that we are up to date with the regulatory changes in this sector.