The US government authorized Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to buy Shell’s Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported on Wednesday.
“It is a purchase made by the Government of Mexico of a refinery, which is something historic and this went through an authorization from the United States Government, and yesterday the authorization was already approved, ” López Obrador said in his daily press conference.
The president explained that the same conditions that he set forth last May when he announced the purchase for 596 million dollars of Deer Park, which has a processing capacity of 340,000 barrels per day, are maintained.
Pemex and Shell had a partnership since 1992, but the Anglo-Dutch company controlled 50.05% of the shares and the Mexican state company the rest, detailed Octavio Romero Oropeza, general director of the state oil company.
The operation will also include paying 596 million dollars corresponding to Pemex’s debt in the refinery, added Romero Oropeza.
“The refinery had debt equivalent to its value, for about 1,200 million dollars, those that correspond to Shell and those that correspond to Pemex will be paid, in such a way that the refinery is added to the country and to Pemex’s assets. , debt-free, totally clean ”, he asserted.
The transaction received the endorsement of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS), said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign secretary.
“The Committee has determined that there is no national security concern that remains unresolved, therefore, in accordance with the provisions of Section 721 of the legal provisions referred to herein, the review of this operation has been concluded,” said the Chancellor by displaying the official letter.
With this refinery in Houston and the one being built in Dos Bocas, in southeastern Mexico, in addition to the Tula coker, the Government expects to increase its refining capacity by about 700,000 barrels per day.
In addition, the Government invests an average of 10,000 million pesos (about 480 million dollars) a year in the six existing refineries, which will contribute 1.2 million additional barrels, said López Obrador.
“We will now be in a position to process all our raw material, hopefully, this can be accomplished, carried out by 2023, which will mean producing all our fuels in Mexico, it is a turn, a change, very important in politics oil company ”, he highlighted.
The government’s action is part of López Obrador’s promises to “rescue” the state-owned company, Pemex.
The oil company lost $ 4.936 billion in the first nine months of 2021 after losing $ 21.417 billion in 2020 in the “worst crisis in its history,” as the company itself recognized.