March 25, 2019 [Hydrocarbons Technology] – The Mexican Government has reportedly invited international firms to participate in a competitive tender for the construction of a new $8bn oil refinery on the country’s southern Gulf coast.

The proposed refinery would be owned by Mexico’s national oil company Pemex and is aimed at increasing domestic production of gasoline and diesel, as well as reducing the country’s dependence on fuel imports.

According to Reuters, three US firms, namely Bechtel, Jacobs Engineering Group and KBR, are invited to bid on the contract.

Bechtel will partner with Italy’s Techint on the bid, while Jacobs Engineering will team up with Australia’s WorleyParsons as part of a consortium. KBR and French firm Technip are expected to go solo.

The names of the firms in the race for the contract were revealed by Energy Minister Rocio Nahle at an event to commemorate the 1938 nationalisation of Mexico’s oil industry.

Once the construction is completed, the facility will become Pemex’s seventh domestic refinery. The news agency stated that Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who assumed office in December, seeks to accelerate the implementation of the refinery project.

During his election campaign, Obrador promised to reduce the country’s growing fuel imports. Obrador was quoted by Reuters as saying: “The companies we are calling upon for the Dos Bocas refinery are the best in the world.” Citing unidentified sources, the news agency reported that the construction of the refinery would be completed in three years.

The project would be the first new oil refinery to be constructed in Mexico in nearly four decades. Located in the state of Tabasco, the refinery has already received all necessary government approvals.

According to Nahle, the facility will comprise 17 processing plants and 93 storage tanks. Other project infrastructure will include access to highways, a rail line and docking for ships.

Last month, Pemex announced that it managed to trim losses in 2018 to $7.6bn from $14.3bn in the previous year. However, the firm’s crude output declined to 1.833 million barrels per day (Mbpd).

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