Madrid/days after 14ymedio deniedthrough sources in the oil sector, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s statement that Mexico has a surplus of diesel, the middle of the North American country The broken chair confirms the thesis based on the statements of another expert. In this case it is Ramsés Pech, an energy sector analyst, who also suspects that the diesel that Pemex sends to the Island is the one that Mexico does not want.
As far as diesel is concerned, the maximum sulfur content that it must contain to have the official NOM-016 certificate – the official Mexican regulation that establishes the quality parameters that petroleum products must meet – is 15 milligrams per kilo (called DUBA), but Pemex does not achieve it.
“There is a very big structural problem. The crude oil that is extracted in Mexico is very heavy, it has a large amount of sulfur. (…) NOM-016 Pemex has not been able to comply with. It has been kicking itself and it has gone, extension after extension, since 2009,” Gonzalo Monroy, director of the consulting company specialized in the energy sector GMEC, told that medium.
However, this “surplus” is of no use to the country and has to be exported, so it is likely to end up in Cuba, where it is useful for electricity generation.
Although during the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, investments were allocated to the Dos Bocas Refinery, in Tabasco, with the promise that it would be able to produce ultra-low sulfur diesel, but its construction remains bogged down. Between January and September of this year, the daily average of barrels leaving the refineries of the Mexican state oil company was 199,000 per day, something that had not been seen since 2016.
However, this “surplus” is of no use to the country and has to be exported, so it is likely to end up in Cuba, where it is useful for electricity generation.
“The daily demand for diesel fluctuates between 400,000 and 420,000 barrels. The difference is imported from the United States. In addition, Pemex only produces about 35% of the diesel in the entire country. If it is the one that sends to Cuba, it is low-quality diesel that is used for the electrical system,” Pech added.
On October 16, Sheinbaum was proud of the high production of this petroleum derivative. “Now there is a surplus of diesel particularly and it is being exported (to Cuba).”
However, almost 200,000 barrels are imported from the US every day, which means that 50% of what the country needs comes from abroad. This type of fuel is needed for the transportation of cargo, buses, agricultural and construction machinery, and for the generation of electrical energy, although in this case it is accepted that it has a higher sulfur content. However, Mexican diesel has less content of this element than that extracted from the wells on the Island.
This newspaper published, based on Sheinbaum’s words, that Mexico has a fuel deficitsince it turns to the United States mostly to cover its needs. “Thanks to these imports from the United States, Mexico can afford to export diesel to Cuba,” said Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas in Austin.
Mexico imports 61% of its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from its northern neighbor, some 787,000 barrels per day in 2024. “A portion of Mexico’s imports come from the Pemex refinery located in Texas City, one of the largest on the Gulf coast, with a daily production of 275,000 barrels,” Piñón added.
“A portion of Mexico’s imports come from the Pemex refinery located in Texas City, one of the largest on the Gulf coast, with a daily production of 275,000 barrels”
The specialist denied, however, the published data by the civil society organization, Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), which days before had stated that “the value of hydrocarbons sent by Mexico to Cuba between May and August 2025 exceeded three billion dollars, equivalent to nearly 60 billion pesos, according to records on foreign trade platforms consulted by MCCI.” It also said that Mexican customs had registered 58 shipments of hydrocarbons to the Island in those same months.
“The MCCI has misinterpreted the data from Mexican Customs and that, on the contrary, Pemex has problems with the production of light crude oil (Istmo),” he told 14ymedio Piñón, who claims to have no evidence of recent shipments from that country to Cuba.
According to official data from Gasolina del Bienestar, a subsidiary of the Mexican state company that exports to Cuba under unknown economic conditions, in the first half of 2025the value of shipments rose 6% compared to the same period of the previous year, going from 5,000 million pesos (about 272 million US dollars) to 5,300 million pesos (289 million dollars). With these data, it can be calculated that the total number of barrels was 3,257,800.
