Pemex registers worst refining margin since the beginning of 2020

During the third quarter of 2022, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) had a negative refining variable margin of 7.37 dollars per barrel, which is equivalent to the loss experienced by the company for each refined barrel.

This is the first negative margin registered by the oil company since that observed during the first quarter of 2020 – which was -12.48 dollars per barrel – and a radical turnaround, after the margins had records during the first two quarters of the year. historically high – of 18.32 and 14.74 dollars per barrel, respectively.

“This result is due to lower crude oil prices and the increase in refinery processing rates worldwide, which combined with weak demand, put pressure on the price of oil products,” said the state company in its report for the third quarter of the year. year.

During the third quarter of the year, the price of the Mexican mixture of crude oil fell 15.5% compared to the previous quarter to 88.02 dollars per barrel, with which it was located at a level similar to that of the first quarter, a period in which the margin refining had a maximum level.

During the third quarter of the year, the use of Pemex’s refining capacity was 49.2%, a figure 6.8 percentage points higher than that of the same period in 2021. The above meant the process of 807,000 barrels of crude oil per day, that is, 111,000 barrels more regarding the period July-September 2021.

And despite these results, by subsidiary, Pemex reported profits at its last data, as of September 30, 2022, in all items, except in Industrial Transformation, where the loss was 61,722 million pesos, which although they imply a improvement in relation to the 11,144 million pesos that were reported as a net loss, keep this subsidiary in the red.

According to analyst Ramsés Pech, the problem is that operation and maintenance costs are still very high in refineries in Mexico, since, according to information from OPEC, using WTI as a reference, refineries in the United States have margins up to $30 per barrel.

The problem is that the refineries are at no more than 50% so that in the financial balance when reaching Industrial Transformation it is at a loss; operationally, refineries have a high cost and with that the refining margin is calculated, the margins fell due to the cost of producing due to the inefficiency of the refineries”, explained the analyst.

karol.garcia@eleconomista.mx