For her part, Sheinbaum recalled that during the government of Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, the construction of a refinery was also promised, but it did not prosper.
“Today this majestic work begins operations, which is a work of civil, petroleum and biochemical engineering, without corruption,” said the future president. And regarding the cancelled Tula refinery, she said: “they couldn’t even finish a wall.”
“They exploited Cantarell, abandoned refining, sought to bankrupt Pemex and CFE; imported gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and LP gas, talked about ‘energy transition’ and bought more oil. But none of that was reflected in public works,” said Sheinbaum.
At the event, Octavio Romero, director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), said that today the capacity of 170 thousand barrels of crude oil was reached, half of the new refinery.
“We expect to have 340 thousand barrels per day in the coming days of August: 175 thousand of crude oil and 130 thousand of low-sulfur diesel,” he said.
Pemex’s plan is to import only 20,000 barrels of fuel per day by next year. To do so, Dos Bocas would have to operate at 100% capacity, a scenario that, according to sources consulted by Expansión, is practically impossible to achieve.
The construction of the Dos Bocas refinery has been full of setbacks: a failed tender, a budget that more than doubled, and confusing dates.
Just last Friday, the oil company’s management told investors that the complex already processes 100,000 barrels per day. Three days later, President López Obrador marked the last date on the calendar by stating that this Saturday would be the start-up.
