Mexico's Dos Bocas Refinery Resumes Work on Key Units

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petroleos Mexicanos SA de CV (Pemex) (Mexico City) has resumed its startup of the U-30000 delayed coker unit at its Dos Bocas Refinery, also called the Olmeca Refinery. The 105,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) unit started operations July 4, but it was halted due to a compressor section failure on July 6.

Pemex also is continuing with the commissioning, testing and pre-startup of several other units at its 340,000-BBL/d Dos Bocas Refinery. The refinery's cogen area recently experienced a string of failures, affecting turbines, generators, the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and the protection system, leading to reduced processing capacity.

Currently, the following units continue under re-circulation mode but are not yet operational:

• 170,000-BBL/d Combined Maya Train 1 (U-11000)
• 68,000-BBL/d Diesel Hydrotreater (HDDI) (U-51000)
• Hydrogen (PH) units

Also, the following units are under the commissioning and testing phases:

• 60,000-BBL/d Gasoil HDT (HDTGO)
• 55,000-BBL/d Naphtha HDT (HDN)
• Amine 1
• 94,000-BBL/d Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) (U-21000)
• 62,000-BBL/d Reformer (REF) (U-71000)
• SWT 1 (Phenolic)
• Tail gas treatment units

Based on this information, Industrial Info expects the earliest, tentative commercial startup date to be late this year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Database can learn more in a detailed plant profile and click here for a list of unit profiles.

The Dos Bocas Refinery is one of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's flagship projects. With the construction of Dos Bocas and Pemex's purchase of the Deer Park refinery in the U.S., the president expects his efforts will boost refining and significantly reduce Mexico's fuel imports.

However, Lopez Obrador's final term ends in October, and he could leave the government without seeing Dos Bocas run at full capacity.

Meanwhile, president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who is from Lopez Obrador's party, has vowed to maintain support for Pemex and other state-owned companies.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).