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 the understanding an important milestone for the project planned in southwestern Arizona, with construction planned to start in late 2006 and be completed in 2010.
Traenor said the offloading facility would be located on the western coast of either Sonora or Baja California and that the company is now negotiating with Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, for crude oil to supply the refinery.
Though crude from countries other than Mexico also could be used, “we anticipate them being a major supplier,” Traenor said of Pemex.
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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
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
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
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
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
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
Chiapas Closes Mexico Oil Well
Reflecting the mounting safety concerns plaguing Mexico's state-owned petroleum industry, the governor of Chiapas this week shut down a federally owned and operated oil well that he said posed a health and environmental hazard.
It is believed to be the first time a state has shut down an installation of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, an entity whose revenue funds more than 30% of the federal government's budget. The closed well contributes little economically to Pemex, but company officials are said to fear that Chiapas' intervention could set a precedent.
The move by Chiapas Gov. Pablo Salazar comes as
Energy Summit Takes Place in Mexico
Mexico, Central America, the Dominican Republic and Colombia held a summit in Cancun to analyze the so-called Mesoamerican Energy Initiative and committed to progress in integration.
Host president, Vicente Fox, made the proposal for an agreement among 10 countries of seven projects, among them a refinery in Central America, a gas pipeline, and a thermoelectric and electrical interconnection system.
The meeting is also attended by Presidents Ricardo Maduro (Honduras), Oscar Berger (Guatemala), Leonel Fernandez (Dominican Republic), Abel Pacheco (Costa Rica), Martin Torrijos (Panama) and Elias Antonio Saca (El Salvador), and representatives from Nicaragua, Colombia and Belize.
The
Asarco, the copper mining unit of Grupo Mexico (GMBXF.NOO), Wednesday filed for bankruptcy protection after a five week strike that hampered production. The company also faces environmental and other claims worth $1.9 billion.
Asarco filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, although its operations are headquartered in Tucson. Asarco is facing a large number of asbestos related personal injury claims besides several environmental lawsuits related to its mining, smelting and refining operations. The company expects the Chapter 11 filing to enable it to reorganize its liabilities, reduce operational costs and restructure its balance sheet.
