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LatAmOil MEXICO LatAmOil

EIA: Value of US petroleum exports to

Mexico approached record high in 2019

US producers exported almost $34bn worth of record its lowest monthly output figure in nearly
crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas half a century.
to Mexico last year, just slightly lower than the Both the downward slide in crude produc-
record high registered in 2018, according to tion and the reliance on imported fuel have been
US Census Bureau data cited by the US Energy a source of frustration for Mexican President
Information Administration (EIA). Meanwhile, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. As such, the
the same data set shows that the US imported president is pushing forward with the Dos Bocas
$13bn worth of oil, gas and fuels from Mexico refinery project, which was designed to improve
in 2019. domestic petroleum product supplies.
The gap between these two numbers was Pemex, the national oil company (NOC), is
consistent with medium-term trends, as the currently working to build the Dos Bocas refin-
value of US petroleum exports has been higher ery project in the southern Mexican state of
than imports in every year since 2015, EIA said. Tabasco. When finished, the plant will be able to
This is because petroleum imports from Mexico process 340,000 bpd of heavy crude oil.
have declined over the last five years, while US The project has drawn some criticism, not
exports have surged, it explained. least because of its $8bn price tag. But Lopez
The EIA further stated that energy had Obrador said earlier this year that construction
accounted for 13% of the value of all US exports would not be postponed or cancelled, even in
to Mexico and 4% of all US imports from Mex- the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-
ico in 2019. It also noted that US oil imports demic. ™
from Mexico had averaged 599,000 barrels per
day (bpd).
This makes Mexico the second-biggest for-
eign supplier of crude to the US market, second
only to Canada, it said.
The US, meanwhile, also plays a key role in
Mexican energy markets. For example, it sup-
plies more than half of all gasoline consumed
in Mexico, according to the EIA. (Most of these
volumes come from the southern US states of
Texas and Louisiana.)
This dependence on imported fuels stems
partly from rising domestic demand and partly
from the long-term decline in Mexico’s domestic
crude oil output. Production levels hit 1.605mn
bpd in July, putting the country on track to US producers supply about half of Mexico’s gasoline (Photo: Wikipedia)

Latin America watchers see Biden pushing

Mexico on US oil and gas investments

SEVERAL Latin America observers have spec- mount a stronger defence of private US firms in
ulated that US President-elect Joe Biden may the face of the Mexican government’s preference
push harder than the incumbent Donald Trump for public-sector players. To date, Trump has not
to uphold the interests of US companies seeking shown much interest in the complaints of US
to invest in Mexico’s energy sector. companies affected by President Andres Manuel
For example, Shannon O’Neil, a senior fellow Lopez Obrador’s support for state-run giants
for Latin America Studies at the Council on For- such as Pemex and CFE, she wrote in an article
eign Relations (CFR), said she expected Biden to published by Bloomberg earlier this week.

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