Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 20 2021

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Companies should also electrify their opera- ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in
tions where possible. Glasgow in November.
“Some oil and gas companies may choose There are also considerable difficulties in
to become ‘energy companies’ focused on low‐ forecasting the outlook for some clean energy
emissions technologies and fuels, including solutions. Neither CCUS nor green hydrogen
renewable electricity, electricity distribution, EV have yet proved to be feasible at an acceptable
charging and batteries,” the IEA said. cost. Yet the report forecasts a growth in annual
Ultimately, the IEA report offers only a CO2 capture to 7.6 Gt by 2050, and a rise in
roadmap. It is very unlikely that any notable hydrogen consumption from 90mn tonnes in
oil and gas producing states will follow its rec- 2020 to 530mn tonnes by 2050. The report also
ommendation about ending upstream invest- calls for a quadrupling of wind and solar capac-
ment now. France, Ireland, Denmark and now ity additions by 2030, but the issue of finding an
Spain have banned the issue of new exploration adequate means of storing such large amounts
licences, but only Denmark and Ireland produce of intermittent renewable energy is yet to be
meaningful amounts of hydrocarbons, and are resolved.
continuing to develop new production projects. Faced with these uncertainties, many govern-
Nevertheless, the report may influence deci- ments will conclude that continued investment
sion-making by countries looking to impose in some oil and gas production is necessary to
tighter restrictions on upstream development ensure future energy security. ™

MEXICO
Pemex to build coking plant at Tula refinery

MEXICO’S national oil company (NOC) the Tula and Madero refineries, he stated.
Pemex has said it intends to build a coking plant He criticised the previous presidential
at the Tula refinery in Hidalgo State. administration for arranging these sales in a bid
Octavio Romero Oropeza, the company’s to raise funds, declaring that Pemex had actu-
CEO, unveiled plans for the project last week ally lost money by giving up ownership of the
during Mexican President Andres Manuel hydrogen units and leasing them instead. “The
Lopez Obrador’s daily press conference. Pemex Tula plant was sold for little over $50mn in 2017,
hopes to bring the unit online in 2023 and antic- but by the end of 2020, Pemex had paid the new
ipates spending $2.64bn on the project, he told owners over $49mn in lease fees,” he said.
reporters. The NOC will continue to lose money if it
According to Romero, the coking unit will cannot exit the lease deal, which is due to remain
process some 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of in force for another 15 years, he added. ™
residual fuel oil. This is equivalent to 90% of the
total amount of fuel oil produced by Pemex’s
refineries in Tula and Salamanca, he noted.
He went on to say that the new unit would
turn out motor fuel for domestic consumption.
“When the coking plant is ready, it will process
140,000 bpd of fuel oil to generate 42,000 bpd of
gasoline; 78,000 bpd of diesel and 20,000 bpd of
fuel oil,” he stated.
Since these volumes will be sold in Mexico,
they will help the country reduce its dependence
on imported petroleum products, he added.
According to official data from the Energy
Secretariat (SENER), Mexico imported nearly
500,000 bpd of gasoline and 300,000 bpd of die-
sel in April of this year, enough to cover more
than half of its total consumption.
Romero said Pemex had decided to build the
coking unit within the framework of a wider
campaign to invest in its downstream opera-
tions. The NOC has already succeeded in can-
celling the planned sale of a hydrogen plant at
the Cadereyta refinery and intends to buy back
the hydrogen plants that sustain operations at
The Tula refinery has a design capacity of 315,000 bpd (Image: Mexican Gov’t)

Week 20 20•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7