Pemex to bring refinery back on stream

CIUDAD MADERO, December 14, 2017 – The Madero refinery in Tamaulipas will come back on line over the coming weekend, an official at Mexican NOC Pemex told international media on Wednesday.

The refinery had been completely shut down in August to allow for a maintenance programme to be carried out. With a processing capacity of 190,000 bpd, Madero is the smallest of Mexico’s six refineries.

Speaking to Reuters, the anonymous official said, “The startup is expected to begin as planned on December 16 in order to have normalised operations toward the end of the year.”

Madero is just one of several refineries that have undergone production stoppages in 2017. Fires broke out at the Salina Cruz and Tula refineries in June and August, respectively. Operations at Salina Cruz were again stopped following the 8.2-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Chiapas in September.

Mexico’s total refining capacity is around 1.6 million bpd; however, the facilities have produced an average of only 544,000 bpd in 2017, due in large part to these incidents, along with scheduled shutdowns.

In other news, Pemex also said on Wednesday that one of its employees had been found dead at the Salamanca refinery, though no cause for the death was given.

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