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 in either Baja California or Sonora, Mexico.
“Any oil that reaches the downloading facility in the north of Mexico will not be PEMEX oil … so it is not against the constitution,” said David Treanor, an ACFY spokesman.
PEMEX is Mexico’s state oil monopoly.
ACFY said it had reached an understanding with Mexico’s Energy Secretary Fernando Canales to build, maintain, operate and own the pipeline, which is expected to cost $650 million.
More: today.reuters.com
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
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
All Gulf of Mexico crude prod halted
Essentially all Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 30 percent of U.S. oil refinery production was shut as Hurricane Rita approached the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Oil prices dropped Friday afternoon as Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 at maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.
About 72 percent of natural gas production was shut in by Friday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said.
The MMS said 99.1 percent of crude production was shut.
The storm has forced shut 15 big U.S. refineries, adding to the four that had remained shut after Hurricane Katrina
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
Crude Oil Is Little Changed as U.S. Gulf of Mexico Output Drops
Crude oil was little changed, rebounding from the session's lows, after a government report showed that U.S. oil production fell in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil production was 901,726 barrels below pre-storm levels, almost 5 percent more than reported yesterday, the Minerals Management Service said in a daily report. Prices declined earlier today on an Energy Department report that showed U.S. supplies of crude oil and petroleum products declined less than expected in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
``There are obviously still some problems out in the Gulf,''
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
Crude prices retreat as Hurricane Emily weakens
Crude oil futures declined on Monday amid easing concerns about disruption of production in Mexico due to Hurricane Emily.
The second hurricane of the season has so far missed some oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico but had threatened to disrupt output in Venezuela and Mexico itself.
But Emily weakened as it passed Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, to sighs of relief from traders. They had expected worse disruptions just when the global crude market has virtually no spare capacity.
By late morning in New York, West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was trading $1.09 lower
