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LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

Pemex predicts 70% drop

in exports of Maya crude

MEXICO’S state-run oil and gas company When finished, the Dos Bocas refinery is
Pemex has predicted that exports of Maya, its slated to process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) of
flagship heavy crude grade, will drop by 70% heavy crude oil. It is scheduled to come online by
over the next few years as a result of the need to 2023, but some industry experts see that time-
divert larger volumes to a new refinery slated for line as overly ambitious.
construction in Tabasco State. “The key issue here is whether Dos Bocas is
Pemex believes that Maya exports will going to be operating in three years,” Ixchel Cas-
decline as anticipated between 2021and 2023, tro, oil and refining markets manager for Latin
two sources familiar with the matter told America at Wood Mackenzie, told Bloomberg.
Bloomberg last week. They said that the com- “The construction process is probably going to
pany was set to cut the volume of Maya crude take longer than originally estimated, so exports
sold to foreign customers by almost half in 2021 will be maintained for a longer period than
and 2022, with more reductions set to follow in expected,” he said.
2023. They were speaking on condition of ano- In January, Bank of China (BoC) and the
nymity, as Pemex has yet to speak publicly about Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
the issue. (ICBC) said they would invest $600mn into the
Mexico has held off making deep production Dos Bocas refinery. The six existing refineries in
cuts in recent months, despite the chaos that Mexico process a blend of Maya and a lighter
global markets have endured since the advent grade domestic crude, known as Isthmus. ™
of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Indeed, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obra-
dor has remained intent on seeing the country
direct larger volumes of oil to the domestic refin-
ing industry. To this end, he has continued to
support plans to construct a massive new refin-
ery in Tabasco and to upgrade Pemex’s existing
facilities.
In April, Lopez Obrador said that construc-
tion on the new plant – the $8bn Dos Bocas
refinery, which will refine Maya crude – would
not be postponed or cancelled. The president
is hoping that the project will end Mexico’s
dependence on refined petroleum products
imported from the southern US states of Texas
and Louisiana. The Dos Bocas refinery is being built on reclaimed land (Photo: Van Oord)

ECUADOR
Dutch court backs Chevron

in $9.5bn Ecuador case

THE District Court of The Hague has backed $9.5bn judgment handed down in Ecuador
US supermajor Chevron in its dispute with against the US super-major was the product of
Ecuador’s government over alleged environ- egregious fraud and corruption by the plaintiffs’
mental damage in the Amazon region. legal team.
The Dutch court decided last week to uphold In the 2018 ruling, the tribunal said that the
a 2018 arbitral award given by an international Ecuadorean court decision involved bribery of
tribunal administered by the Permanent Court the presiding judge and ghost-writing of the
of Arbitration. The tribunal had found that a judgment itself.

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