February 24, 2020 [S&P Global Platts] – Fuel importer and wholesaler Enermex will expand its storage and distribution capacity in the Mexico City region in the fourth quarter when it begins operating a storage terminal, a company executive told S&P Global Platts in a weekend interview.

The terminal, located in the State of Mexico, will initially be able to hold 245,000 barrels of diesel and gasoline, with a total expected capacity of 1 million barrels after ramp-up, said Francisco Chavez, the company’s commercial manager.

The Mexico City-based company recently conducted an open season for capacity allocation where it secured two off-takers for the project, one Mexican and one foreign, Chavez said. An additional amount of capacity will be offered later in the year through a second season, he said.

Enermex plans to start operations in 2021 in three more terminals: one in the Guadalajara region, one in the gulf port of Tuxpan and one in the Southern state of Tabasco, next to the new refinery that is being built by the new administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In 2022, Enermex plans to begin operations in three more locations – Manzanillo, Aguascalientes and Salina Cruz, Chavez said.

The company buys from Pemex and also from large refining firms like Valero and Trafigura. However, when it is more economical to do so, the company sometimes imports through rail or ship.

“Our ability to buy from any supplier or import our own fuels allows us to provide supply certainty to our clients,” Chavez said.

Enermex, founded in 2005 with Mexican capital, currently operates eight terminals with about half a million barrels of storage capacity. It supplies fuels, mainly diesel, to many of the biggest national and international brands across the country.

LOW-COST STATIONS

Enermex will start operation this year of its first low-cost gas station, which will likely run the Pemex brand, Chavez said.

The 16-meter-long station, which can store up to 35,000 liters of fuel, has an average cost of 6 million pesos ($300,000). That compares with the up to 20 million pesos needed to install a traditional station.

This type of low-cost, relocatable station is in line with the government´s goal to take fuel to small, remote areas of the country where there are currently no stations, Chavez said. In Mexico, over 1,000 municipalities have no gas stations nearby, he said.

Enermex plans to install more than 1,000 relocatable gas stations in Mexico over the next five years.

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