Pemex to import light crude from US

Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, is poised to abandon a decades-old devotion to self-sufficiency in crude oil, entering talks with US companies about importing light crude from its northern neighbor, where output is booming.

Emilio Lozoya, chief executive said that Pemex was very likely to start importing light crude from the United States in the next few months, to generate more value from the Mexico’s six domestic refineries.

Lozoya said importing light crude from the United States was “a very good idea” that Pemex was analyzing, noting that it could help the company’s refining unit boost output of products it is often forced to import, including gasoline and diesel.

Mexico has very rarely imported crude, most recently in the late 1990s, instead preferring a stubborn self-sufficiency even as overall domestic production declined and the country’s oil mix has tilted toward harder-to-refine heavy crudes.

Analysts have said that light crude imports from the United States could increase gradually to 200,000 barrels per day over the course of the next year.

Pemex’s six domestic plants are expected to refine an average of 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, or about 20 percent below their combined capacity of 1.58 million bpd.