:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/PHE3ZM2TMFBHLMSX4MJH24QX4U.jpeg "Specialists warn of a great challenge in the ‘goodbye’ to crude oil exports – El Financiero")
The second half of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will have as one of its main objectives to achieve energy self-sufficiency in the country, so Pemex will focus on 10 tasks to make it possible.
One of the main priorities will be for the National Refining System to only serve the domestic market, so Mexico would stop exporting oil as of 2023, Octavio Romero Oropeza, Pemex CEO, said at a conference at the National Palace.
The plan of the Government of Mexico proposes that 2022 be the last year that crude oil is exported, so it only plans to sell 435 thousand barrels per day, that is, a reduction of 57 percent compared to what was observed in 2021.
Arturo Carranza, an energy sector analyst, pointed out that currently, around 15 percent of public spending is supported by oil revenues obtained through exports, so the mandatory question for the Government of Mexico is that they give to know where these resources are going to be obtained if they stop selling abroad.
“The idea of reducing exports to practically zero is a great challenge. If the way in which income from oil sales is obtained is not modified, I do not see how they are going to finance public spending, a tax reform would be necessary or that the economy grows more, but that is not happening ”, he warned.
Ana Lilia Moreno, coordinator of the competition and regulation program in Mexico Evalúa, indicated that currently, the only profitable thing for Pemex is the export business, so its disappearance would lead to consolidated Pemex registering economic losses, problems with the credit rating of the productive company of the State and even, an affectation to the rating of the sovereign and the public finances of the country.
The oil company also plans to continue increasing its production and reach 2 million barrels per day by 2024, considerably higher than the 1,733 thousand barrels per day currently produced.
Moreno does not see this goal as feasible, since he considers that it is a very large leap compared to current oil production, while Arturo Carranza considered that the only way to reach that figure would be by incorporating private companies or investing more resources in the National Refining System. .
Rocío Nahle, Secretary of Energy, recalled that at the beginning of the government, the use of the six refineries in the country was 32 percent, while this year it will be possible to increase to 50 percent and by 2024 it is expected to reach 86 percent , with which Mexico would be meeting its goal of self-sufficiency.
Pemex will require a trillion pesos
During the press conference, Octavio Romero pointed out that for the second half of the administration, Pemex will require 1 trillion 116 thousand million pesos to be able to finance the 10 operations and investment tasks that the company needs.
He specified that during 2022 388 thousand 630 million pesos will be needed, in 2023, 372 thousand 326 million pesos; and in 2024 355 thousand 46 million pesos will be required.
Among the tasks proposed by Pemex, the recovery of the Lakach project for the extraction of natural gas stands out, in coordination with the private initiative.
Romero recalled that the Lakach field, a non-associated gas field in deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico, was suspended in 2016 “for some reason” despite the fact that it had invested 1,390 million dollars, and maintaining the suspension implies an expense of 900 thousand dollars a month.
Among the other tasks he listed was to maintain proven hydrocarbon reserves at an average of 7 billion oil in the next three years, to end 2024 at 7.1 billion. Another activity is related to the Cangrejera project, an aromatics train that will work with the Minatitlán refinery and which has entered the rehabilitation stage.
The production of fertilizers is also contemplated through the Agronitrogenados and Fertinal plants, the first for the production of urea and the second for phosphoric fertilizers.
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