Dos Bocas refinery proposals to be submitted by mid-April

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said all four companies invited to participate in the tender to build Dos Bocas refinery had agreed to submit their proposals before April 18.

French engineering company Technip, US engineering firm KBR, and the US-Argentine Bechtel-Techint and Australian-US WorleyParsons-Jacobs consortiums were invited to participate in the tender, which López Obrador valued at between 150bn and 160bn pesos (up to US$8.32bn).

Speaking in his daily morning press conference, the president also said the government would spend 25bn pesos on refurbishing Mexico's six existing refineries which are working at 30% of capacity.

López Obrador said 3.5bn pesos would go to refurbishing the Madero refinery in Tampico, which would require 1,000 additional workers.

He said the refurbishments and the new refinery would make Mexico self-sufficient in gasoline, leading to lower prices for consumers.

According to energy ministry data, average demand for gasoline in 2018 was 787,000b/d of which 78% was covered by imports, primarily from the US. Average demand for diesel was 387,000b/d of which 76% was covered by imports.