The National Refining System, made up of seven plants operated by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), processed an average of 1,014 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2025, which meant a use of 51% of its capacity, higher than the 46% utilization recorded the previous year.
However, the process commitment for 2025 of the 2025-2035 Strategic Plan of the state oil company contemplated reaching 1,050 million barrels per day, so the registered volume was 3.5% lower than this goal.
Even so, there was progress in this area since the volume processed was 12% higher than in 2024 and is the highest recorded since 2015, when 1,064 million barrels per day were processed with six refineries.
The Olmeca refinery located in Paraíso, Tabasco, recorded an average process of 134,382 barrels per day last year, which meant a use of 39.5% of the installed capacity throughout the year in this plant that began operations in 2024, when it only processed an annual average of 23,420 barrels per day with a use of 7% of its total capacity scheduled at 340,000 barrels per day. day.
However, in December with a process of 263,402 barrels per day, this Dos Bocas refinery achieved its highest historical level using 77.4% of its capacity and becoming in the last month of the year the refinery with the highest volume of crude oil transformation. The traditional National System, which before the construction of Dos Bocas had a joint facility of six refineries to process 1,640 million barrels of oil per day, achieved a process of 879,435 barrels per day in 2025, which even meant a detriment of 0.3% compared to 2024.
In the use of the six refineries that Pemex operated before Dos Bocas was 53.6%, lower than the 53.7% in 2024, although it is worth remembering that, after reaching a use of 65% of the capacity in 2015, the lack of maintenance of the plants led to a drop of 36% in this indicator that since the last administration has sought to restore so that the oil that is extracted in the country’s fields can be processed. in national refineries.
Refineries do not reflect investments due to the latest remodeling works
The rest of the national system made little progress in increasing its crude oil process in 2025, despite the fact that in recent years investments ranging from 25,000 million annually have been allocated for its remodeling. In fact, three of the six plants even had a reduction in their annual process level.
For example, the Minatitlán refinery in Veracruz recorded a process of 101,893 barrels per day in 2025, a level 18% lower than in 2024. The Madero plant, in Tamaulipas, processed 99,768 barrels per day, with a reduction of 12% compared to the previous year.
In addition, the Salamanca refinery, Guanajuato, processed 117,712 barrels per day, which means a drop of 8% compared to 2024. Others, such as Salina Cruz, had a slight increase of 1% annually, so this plant located in Oaxaca processed 201,271 barrels per day last year.
Finally, the Cadereyta refinery, in Nuevo León, reported a process level of 146,547 barrels per day, with an annual increase of 3 percent. And the Tula, Hidalgo refinery stands out – where large equipment has been replaced and the installation of transformation plants for lighter fuels continues -, which had a process level of 212,244 barrels per day in 2025, with an annual increase of 21 percent.
The Olmeca refinery located in Paraíso, Tabasco, recorded an average process of 134,382 barrels per day last year, which meant a utilization of 39.5% of the installed capacity.
