Deer Park’s New Milestone Gives Boost to Energy Sovereignty

On the hundredth day following the acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas, PEMEX CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza celebrated its progress and highlighted the project’s US$19 million profits during 1Q22. After Deer Park’s purchase, the government emphasized that the refinery would be a boon to Mexico’s desired energy sovereignty.

Romero attributed this production milestone to the high levels of oil processing, refining 282Mb/d of crude oil and producing of 294Mb/d of oil products, of which 84.2 percent are refined products like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

“These numbers prove that the acquisition of the refinery has brought success, since it has contributed greatly to the strategy of energy security of our country and is creating economic value for PEMEX,” said Romero while revealing the NOC’s 1Q22 financial results.

According to a report published in Marine Traffic, “Valrossa and STI San Antonio are the first two tankers from the terminal Deer Park, Texas, that unloaded fuel in the Mexican territory during the first days of April.” Each tanker has a capacity of 300Mb/d of gasoline.

PEMEX indicated that this year’s authorized investment includes US$2.23 billion for the Dos Bocas refinery and US$1.12 billion toward Deer Park. “One of the advantages that [Deer Park] provides is the option to ship these products to Mexico by sea, through the Gulf of Mexico, through a pipeline to the Northern border, as well as to the center region of the country via land. In addition to being able to process and capture higher value out of the Mayan crude oil, PEMEX should be capable of receiving and processing fuel oil, if necessary,” stated the President during a press release on the performance of Deer Park in May 2021.

According to La Jornada, the purchase of Deer Park and the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco were not only intended to increase PEMEX’s profits and boost the production of refined oil products but are furthermore meant to accelerate Mexico’s energy independence strategy.

However, Deer Park has not always been perceived in such a positive light. Earlier this year, José Medina Mora, President, Mexican Employers' Association (COPARMEX), expressed that Deer Park and Dos Bocas would only serve as a partial relief for the high fuel demand. He suggested that investing in the optimization of processes and technology, creating alliances with private companies and elevating PEMEX’s productivity towards energy sovereignty would be a better route. Medina also pointed out that the quest toward energy independence should not only rely on PEMEX alone, but rather on strong cooperation. By contrast, he expected that the lack of private investments would “increase supply risks and lead to energy shortages.”