April 27, 2017 [OPIS] - Mexico's Secretaria de Energia (SENER) acknowledged that BP will use Pemex fuel storage terminal or terminals to facilitate the oil major's retail expansion plan in Mexico.
Rosanety Barrios, chief of industrial transformation policy at SENER, said that the pact between BP and Pemex on the use of Pemex terminals was a strategic commercial agreement. She did not offer details of this commercial agreement.
Barrios was responding to a question from an analyst at the OPIS Mexico-U.S. Summit in Houston on Wednesday. The question was on why BP was able to secure Pemex terminal capacities while Mexico’s Comision Reguladora de Energia (CRE) has yet to award any of Pemex Logistica’s storage and pipeline capacities to third parties in an ongoing open season.
It is noted that the award of capacities in the Northwest region was postponed
a few times from February to May 2. The offer of Northwest capacities in Pemex
Logistica’s system is the first open season, with the rest of other Mexican
regions to follow suit later this year.
Industry sources told OPIS on BP and Pemex could have a fuel supply exchange deal, which includes the use of Pemex facilities. In an exchange deal, the use of Pemex storage capacities may not be viewed as an outright lease by BP, depending on commercial terms of the contracts.
OPIS reported in March that BP officially launched its first retail fuel station in Mexico and planned to open around 200 sites this year. BP’s new site in the Satelite area of Mexico City is the first to begin operations.
The 200 BP sites to launch this year are to include both dealer and company owned-and-operated sites, according to BP, and to feature retail stores and full-service refueling islands. The fuel offered will have BP’s proprietary engine-protecting ACTIVE technology.
Over the next five years, BP aims to open around 1,500 retail sites in Mexico, as part of its retail strategy to deliver “a strong, differentiated offer built around top-quality fuels, lubricants and convenience for consumers in growing markets worldwide,” BP Downstream CEO Tufan Erginbilgic said in a statement.
OPIS notes that some major U.S. refiners are currently not supplying fuel on a delivered basis to buyers in Mexico. Some are selling on a free-on-board basis or at refinery gate.
However, this may change in the near future. Some refiners are looking actively into delivering fuel to Mexico via rail and trucks, and some are looking to build terminals for waterborne deliveries.
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