Cost overruns and few liters of gasoline: the two mouths refinery, among the most expensive in the world

The Dos Bocas refinery, the Insigne Energy Project of the Administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is one of the refining complexes with more cost overruns in the world, according to an analysis of the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers (IMIQ). The Pemex factory, located in the state of Tabasco, began with an initial budget of 8,000 million dollars, however, the delays and construction problems raised its cost to 21 billion dollars, according to the last official report of the oil company in the US Daily barrels of gasoline in May, a quarter of its maximum capacity, encrypted in 177,000 barrels per day of gasoline.

Since it started its construction, in the previous six -year term, the Dos Bocas refinery was presented by the federal government as a key piece to raise the national production of gasoline, reduce imports and achieve the longing for “energy self -sufficiency”. The then president of Mexico, López Obrador, set the operation of the 100% refinery at the end of 2023, an objective that did not arrive, the first liters of gasoline were counted at the end of last year. Now, nine months from the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum, the project still motivates doubts about its profitability.

Julio César Rentería, president of the IMIQ Refining Committee, explained that, although the extra costs in works of this magnitude are common, the increase in the two mouth complex exceeds the others, with an extra cost of 162%, compared to its original budget. Secondly, according to this study, the refinery of the Zour, in Kuwait, which went from a budget of 16,000 million dollars to a final disbursement of 35,154 million, 120% more compared to the initial plan is located. Third, there is the Mostorod refinery, in Egypt. The extra cost of this refinery was 113% as of 3.7 billion dollars to just over 7.8 billion dollars. In the fourth place, in China, the extra cost of one of its refineries was 86% from 9,830 million dollars to 18,277 million dollars. “As in all cases of refineries, there will be added costs. The two mouths refinery is barely going for its sixth year, so it is not yet time to say that it is a loss investment,” said Rentería, during his participation in the Latin American Forum for Refining, Petrochemicals and Energies of the Transition, this week in Mexico City.

Mexico has seven refineries. In May, the national refining system produced more than 327,500 barrels of gasoline per day, a 5% drop compared to the previous month. With this capacity, Mexico supplies almost half of its gasoline market, encrypted in about 755,000 barrels per day. To cover the rest of the demand, the country uses imports. One of the purposes of building a new refinery was, precisely, to raise local production and stop depending on the foreign market, an objective that will have to wait at least 2026, according to experts.

Pemex has before him the challenge of accelerating the passage of the Dos Bocas refinery, in the middle of one of its most critical financial moments. The most indebted oil company in the world, with more than 100,000 million dollars in debts, is hunting for new refinancing with both the World Bank and with global banks and Deutsche Bank. The Sheinbaum government has Pemex priority and its finances. This year, the oil company must cover 6,400 million dollars of short -term debt. At the end of the six -year period, the sum will reach 47,100 million dollars.