The Week in Oil and Gas: Support Rises while Exports Fall

PEMEX Support Up 41 Percent

Information released by the Ministry of Energy has confirmed that the first year of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration has seen a 41 percent rise in 2018’s numbers regarding financial support to PEMEX. State investment now stands at some US$14.9billion.

Of this amount, US$11.64billion is destined for exploration and production which PEMEX hopes will reverse the plummeting production figures of the last 10 years.

PEMEX Crude Exports Fall

The most recent reduction in PEMEX crude exports marks the third time this year that the NOC has exported less than 1MMb/d.

October’s figures show that PEMEX exported an average of only 963Mb/d, which is the lowest amount since May 2017.

Data shows that the major destinations of PEMEX crude continue to be the US, Europe and Asia. However, exports to Asia have fallen 43 percent between September and October this year.

Dos Bocas Works Cause Flooding

Residents of Paraíso, Tabasco have blamed the engineering works for the Dos Bocas refinery construction for the floods that have beset the area recently.

Residents, including General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum Technicians and Professionals, Pablo López Figueroa and PEMEX employee, said that the filling in and compaction on the refinery construction site, combined with poor project management and drain blockages, are to blame for the floods. 

Figueroa blamed the lack of consideration of the rainy season by construction planners as part of the reason for the floods, as well as the complete removal of vegetation over the 300ha of the construction site.

CNH Repeats Support for Fracking

During the 16th Regular Meeting of the CNH, Commissioner Sergio Pimentel repeated the institution’s support for the use of hydraulic fracturing on PEMEX-owned onshore fields.

As part of the meeting over the future of the AE-0122-Tampico Misantla block and the falling production of its three wells, Maxochitl, Kaneni and Pankiwi, Pimentel was supported by fellow Commissioner Alma América Porres, who blamed the reduced production on a lack of further fractures.

AMLO Visits Platforms

López Obrador will be visiting platforms and fields around the oil states of Tabasco and Campeche next week. The president is to be accompanied by Minister of Energy Rocío Nahle and CFE Director General Manuel Bartlett and review the benefits of state investment that has been driven towards the oil and gas industry during his premiership.