Pemex advances diesel program at Mexican refineries

Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has let a contract to Spain’s Técnicas Reunidas to execute an ultralow-sulfur diesel project at its Lazaro Cardenas refinery near Minatitlan in Veracruz state.

The contract includes engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of three new refining units, including a 30,000-b/d diesel hydrodesulfurization unit, a 25 Mcfd hydrogen production plant, and a 150,000-tonnes/year (tpy) sulfur recovery plant, Técnicas Reunidas said on Sept. 15.

Técnicas Reunidas also will provide modifications to an existing hydrodesulfurization unit as well as the integration of the installations beyond the battery limits for these plants, the company said.

The contract, which was awarded under the open-book convertible lump-sum method, will be implemented in two phases, according to Técnicas Reunidas.

At a cost of $50 million, the first phase, which includes the execution of a basic design, a detailed estimation of the investment cost, and the purchase of long-term delivery equipment, will take about 12 months.

The second phase of project implementation, at a cost of more than $500 million under the turnkey model, will include detailed engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, construction, and commissioning scheduled to last about 27 months, Técnicas Reunidas said.

The contract award is part of the diesel phase of Pemex’s recently announced fuel quality project, which involves a $2.8 billion investment into increasing ultralow-sulfur diesel production at five of Mexico’s refineries, according to a Sept. 11 release from Pemex.

Designed to improve the qualities of air and fuels, the fuel quality project will involve the construction of new and modernization of existing plants to reduce the sulfur content of Mexico’s diesel production to 15 ppm from 500 ppm, which will lower the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12,000 tpy, said Emillio Lozoya Austin, Pemex’s chief executive officer.

In addition to the total $568 million contract awarded to Técnicas Reunidas for the Minatitlan refinery, Pemex also let contracts for work related to the fuel quality project to:

•ICA Flour Daniel ($737 million) for the Francisco I. Madero refinery in Madero, Tamaulipas.

•Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd. ($359 million) for the Antonio M. Amor refinery in Salamanca, Guanajuato.

•Foster Wheeler USA Corp. ($584 million) for the Antonio Dovalí Jaime refinery in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.

•ACS Group ($560 million) for the Miguel Hidalgo refinery in Tula, Hidalgo.

The fuel quality project comes as part of Pemex’s efforts to become a leader in the oil industry following Mexico’s recent energy reform, Lozoya said (OGJ Online, Aug. 21, 2014; Aug. 18, 2014).