Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, is expected to start operating the long-delayed Dos Bocas oil refinery at full capacity this year, Mexican Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said this week.
The refinery has suffered delays and cost overruns estimated at $3.6 billion or more, and hasn’t yet begun producing usable gasoline.
The plant is one of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s flagship projects to wean the country off fuel imports and achieve “energy independence.
Originally, the plan for the refinery in López Obrador’s home state of Tabasco was expected to cost $8 billion. Even when it was announced, analysts doubted that the projected costs would be sufficient and were not optimistic about the project’s financial viability.
In the following years, the cost of the refinery increased by 40% to an estimated $12.5 billion.
Analysts believed that the refinery might not be able to produce gasoline in 2023 or even 2024.