Pemex ended 2017 still dealing with a lack of key aromatics production -- namely benzene, toluene and mixed xylene (BTX) -- while facing feedstock shortages, the company said Monday.
Pemex saw its BTX production fall off sharply in the second half of 2017 and ended the year with with a combined 131,267 mt of BTX output, down 101,403 mt (43.6%) when compared with 2016, company data shows. Pemex has not registered toluene or benzene output since August and has not produced MX since September, the data shows.
Pemex last month completed a planned 40-day maintenance on the aromatics production unit at its Cangrejera petrochemical complex in the southern state of Veracruz. Production of BTX at Cangrejera has yet to resume, however, as Pemex is dealing with a lack of feedstock due to a downed fluid catalytic cracking unit at the nearby Minatitlan refinery, a company source said last week. Feedstock supply issues at Minatitlan previously led to a reduction in aromatics production at Cangrejera, the source added.
Pemex is now eyeing a February 1 restart for the impacted FCC at Minatitlan with aromatics output resuming by the middle of the month, the source said.
Other refinery issues have also led to less aromatics production for Pemex, the source said. Pemex's Salina Cruz refinery -- the largest in Mexico and a major supplier of residual fuel oil to California -- was shut following a June 14 fire related to an oil spill reaching an ignition point in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Calvin. The company experienced several setbacks in its attempts to restore normal operations, including a September earthquake.
Pemex has not responded to several requests for comment on the state of Minatitlan operations or on production dynamics in the second half of 2017.
For the year, Pemex produced 59,116 mt of MX in 2017, down 39,077 mt (39.8%) year on year, while the company's toluene output totaled 53,040 mt in 2017, down 34,279 mt (39.3%) from 2016, the data showed. Pemex's benzene output totaled 19,111 in 2017, down 28,047 mt (59.5%) from 2016, the data showed.
