Exxon Mobil Corp is joining Chevron Corp and other US refiners to supply the newly free Mexican fuel market.
Exxon on Wednesday sent two cargoes totaling 120,000 barrels of diesel and gasoline from a refinery in Beaumont, Texas, to a private terminal in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
The company is moving cargoes along Kansas City Southern Railway Co’s network and plans to utilize the San Jose Iturbide terminal in Mexico’s Guanajuato state, which is being expanded, to bring in more supplies.
It aims to move product from its refineries along the Gulf Coast.
“Exxon Mobil is the first company to compete in the Mexican fuel market in an integrated form,” Carlos Rivas, general director of fuel for the company in Mexico, said on Wednesday.
After years of preparation, last week Mexico finished liberalizing prices for gasoline and diesel across the nation.
An increasing number of foreign firms plan to invest in port terminals, fuel storage facilities and other logistics infrastructure to compete with state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, the country’s primary fuel vendor and distributor.
Mexico is aiming to boost its fuel inventory capacity to 30 days’ worth, in line with an international recommendation for 36, Mexican Secretary of Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said on Wednesday in Guanajuato, Mexico.
“US Gulf refineries have seen increasing utilization rates, they are cheaper and more efficient than they were previously and they have abundant supply for the Mexican market,” said Alejandra Leon, Latin America upstream director at IHS in Mexico City.
More private infrastructure projects would be ready in the next several years, making it easier for private companies to import fuel without going through Pemex, she added.
Exxon Mobil also indicated that it will open 50 service stations by the end of first quarter and invest more than US$300 million in Mexico’s energy sector.
Another cargo will arrive at San Luis Potosi with about 60,000 barrels of fuels, Rivas said.
Exxon could use Pemex pipelines or other facilities, and will also consider adding pipelines and more terminals than the two it has already announced, Rivas said.
Last week, Chevron said it would bring products from its California refining system to Mexico to supply its gas stations once the infrastructure becomes available.
Koch Supply and Trading Mexico is shipping diesel by tanker from the US to the port of Veracruz on Mexico’s East coast.
Kansas City Southern last month said that it was seeking an agreement with Pemex’s trading arm, PMI, to import US fuels via rail into its San Luis Potosi terminal. Pemex would then transport fuels via pipeline to supply the Mexico City area.
Imports accounted for almost 74 percent of Mexico’s gasoline and diesel sales in October as Pemex’s six refineries operated at their lowest volume in nearly 27 years due to unplanned stoppages, disruptions and maintenance.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
RSS