It would seem to be a perfect time to invest in a new refinery.
With gas prices flirting with the $70-a-barrel mark and the nation’s refining capacity strained, refiners are raking in huge profits. Further highlighting the need for more capacity are hurricanes that have battered and disrupted Gulf Coast refinery production this month.
A local group, Arizona Clean Fuels, is seeking to build the nation’s first new refinery in three decades. After securing an air-quality permit this spring for a 150,000-barrel-a-day refinery, the group is courting investors to fund the $2.5 billion project, planned at an old citrus grove 40 miles east of Yuma.
Backers of the ambitious project point to a couple of events in recent weeks that brighten prospects for an Arizona refinery.
Mexico President Vicente Fox has pushed for a change in Mexico’s laws that would allow foreign investors to tap Mexico’s rich oil reserves. Such a change would allow the state oil company, Pemex, to team with private companies to exploit reserves in the Gulf of Mexico and Baja California.
Glenn McGinnis, chief executive of Arizona Clean Fuels, said his group has had ongoing talks with Mexican government officials about securing crude oil from Mexico. The Arizona group would ship refined fuel back to Mexico, which must import gasoline because of a lack of refining capacity.
Fox’s proposals “are in direct support of our project,” McGinnis said.
Yet Fox’s initiatives have encountered opposition from Mexico’s Congress, wary of opening up its natural resources, which account for a significant portion of the government’s budget.
Another glimmer of hope for the Arizona group comes from a bill introduced recently by Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona.
McGinnis said Kyl’s bill is another incentive for investors who are reluctant to park money in a project that won’t begin producing refined gasoline, diesel and jet fuel before 2009.
More: azcentral.com
Mexico to hire consultant on oil project
Mexico and nine other countries mostly from Central America will choose by Jan. 20 a firm to help them study the best location for a regional oil refinery, said Mexico´s Energy Secretary at a news conference.
Presidents from the group of countries, which include Colombia and the Dominican Republic, in a meeting on Tuesday in Cancun also agreed to form a company with about US$100 million to buy oil and distribute the gasoline produced by the refinery, said Mexican Energy Minister Fernando Canales, according to the transcript of a news conference held today and
Mexico: International funding available for Mexico-Central America refinery
International funding is available for a proposed oil refinery in Central America that would help reduce the cost of fuel for countries in the region, Mexico's energy secretary said Wednesday.
"We've already received offers from monetary institutions to finance 100 percent of the project," Secretary Fernando Canales said in an interview with W Radio. Specifically, Canales mentioned the Inter-American Development Bank as a potential sponsor.
Mexican and Central American leaders formalized their agreement to build a refinery in an as-yet-undesignated Central American country during the Americas Summit last week in Argentina.
Mexican
Mexico Should Sell Pemex's Refinery, Chemical Units, Slim Says
Mexico, the world's No. 6 oil producer, should sell stakes in the petrochemicals and refinery units of state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos to private investors to help free up funds and increase output, billionaire Carlos Slim said.
Pemex, Mexico's only oil company, will need to remain in government hands because of its importance to the economy, Slim, the country's richest man and the world's fourth wealthiest, said in an interview in New York. The Mexican government should insulate Pemex from politics by appointing professional managers and independent board members, Slim said.
``Pemex is the
Mexico approves crude pipe for planned US refinery
Mexico has given an Arizona company permission to build and own a pipeline that would carry Mexican crude to a planned refinery north of the border, which if built, would be the first new U.S. refinery in nearly 30 years.
The move is unusual as Mexico's constitution has banned foreign firms from upstream oil and gas activities since 1938.
The group, Arizona Clean Fuels Yuma, plans to buy Mexican Heavy Maya crude in southern Mexico, load it onto boats, and then ship it to the mouth of the proposed 250-mile (400 km) pipeline
Company says Mexico to allow pipeline for Arizona refinery
The Mexican government will permit construction and operation of a pipeline to deliver crude oil to a proposed new Arizona gasoline refinery that would be the first such project built in the United States in nearly 30 years, the company behind the project said Tuesday.
Arizona Clean Fuels Yuma said it has reached an understanding with a Mexican ministry, the Secretariat of Energy of Mexico, regarding the pipeline, an offloading facility for tanker ships and a tank farm for temporary storage of oil.
David Traenor, a spokesman for Scottsdale-based Arizona Clean Fuels, called
Shell Oil said it has begun producing crude oil and natural gas from its Cougar and Enchilada units in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Today we began producing from our Cougar and Enchilada assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Yellowhammer Gas Processing Plant, in Mobile Bay, Alabama, is now operating," the company said in a statement.
Shell did not elaborate on production levels.
The Enchilada unit, about 300 kilometres southwest of New Orleans, has a peak daily production from its two platforms of 32,800 barrels of crude and 52 million cubic metres of gas, according to the Shell website.
Shell's Cougar platform is
CentAm Energy Summit in Mexico
Central American presidents are meeting this Tuesday in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss energy plans and agree on a project to build a refinery and a 1,625-mile gas pipeline, as well as a regional power generating plant.
The project, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, also includes the establishment of a marketing company to purchase oil and sell gasoline in southeast Mexico, Panama and Colombia. Some $6-billion will be invested on this enterprise.
The refinery will process Mexican oil for the country and Central America and create a gas station network under the franchise of the state Mexican
Hurricane reshapes Mexico's resort scene
The most frazzled, flustered, frantic people in Cabo San Lucas these days may be the wedding planners.
Thousands of vacationers are flocking to Cabo and other western Mexican resorts to relax and say their "I do's."
That's because more than a month after Hurricane Wilma thrashed Cancun — the country's premier resort — and the rest of Mexico's eastern coast, that area is still recuperating. Most hotels and businesses along the 10-mile waterfront strip are closed, and much of the beach has been stripped of its white powder sand.
The effect of Hurricane Wilma, says Ruben Cota,
BP, Shell say Gulf of Mexico ops still suspended
BP PLC and the Royal Dutch Shell said their operations at the Gulf of Mexico remained suspended even as initial inspection showed the offshore facilities sustained little damage from Hurricane Rita.
'The (US Gulf) facilities as of Monday are still completely shut. The situation is still the same,' said a BP spokeswoman.
BP continues to check the facilities and will not allow operations to resume until it is completely certain that it is safe to do so.
'Initial assessment on Sunday via aerial overflights and small crews placed on several BP-operated deepwater
Australia, Mexico to explore FTA
Australia and Mexico will explore the viability of a free trade agreement between the two countries.
Foreign ministers Alexander Downer met Mexican counterpart Luis Ernesto Derbez in Mexico City, who said both countries would have to study whether such an accord would benefit their bilateral trade.
"In March we will have a meeting here of the bilateral economic committee, where we can talk about ... starting a strategy for considering a free trade agreement," Derbez told a news conference following the meeting.
He said that toward the end of 2006, government officials should have a better idea of the
