Mexican president Andres Lopez Obrador
Letter from Mexico: Amlo’s vanity project gets ever more expensive
Costs continue to spiral at a downstream development the utility of which was always questionable
The Olmeca refinery under construction at the port of Dos Bocas in Mexican president Andres Lopez Obrador’s home state of Tabasco is central to his ambitions to both assure energy sovereignty and, generally, restore state oil firm Pemex to what the leftist sees as its former glory. The flagship project will add 340,000bl/d to the nation’s current processing capacity of 1.6mn bl/d from Pemex’s other six refineries. But it is described by one local journalist as “the most opaque construction project” in Mexican history. And industry analysts and the general public alike have been frequently left in the dark regarding its progress and cost. The president insists the refinery will be ready in ti
Also in this section
6 March 2025
A timebomb in copper mining should prompt policymakers to rethink road transport before battery-electric vehicles go down a dangerous dead end
5 March 2025
The oil alliance’s decision to keep to the plan amid tightening economic fundamentals seems to have been lost in the global geopolitical maelstrom, misplaced market speculation and haze of conjecture
5 March 2025
Petronas is making huge efforts to arrest falling oil production and accelerate gas increases to meet rising demand, but political tensions persist
5 March 2025
Plans to boost capacity have seen little progress as the country lags behind other major oil consumers and importers
