Tula coker to start operating in September, says Pemex CEO

The coking plant that Mexican national oil company Pemex is building at its Tula refinery in Hidalgo state will start its first phase of production in September, CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza has said.

Once complete, the coker will add capacity of 93,000b/d of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, he added.

Cokers convert the residual oil that is left over when crude oil is distilled into higher-value refined products such as diesel and gasoline. Cokers also produce petroleum coke, which is used in industries such as cement, steel and aluminum.

The project at the Tula refinery has been subject to significant delays.

Construction of the unit began during the previous Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18) administration but was stopped until the current government revived the project.

Pemex is also building a coking unit at its Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca state. That unit is due to begin production in 2025.

Romero Oropeza made the comments during a visit to the Tula refinery last weekend accompanied by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1.

With the investments in the coking plants and in the new Olmeca refinery in the port of Dos Bocas in Tabasco state, the Mexican government aims to reduce fuel imports and achieve self-sufficiency.

"At the end of this administration we will be very close to self-sufficiency in fuels," Romero Oropeza said.