Mexico's Pemex Petroquimica Sells Ethylene and HDPE Units

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Latin America (Cordoba, Argentina)--Mexico's national petrochemical company, Pemex Petroquimica (Mexico City), will sell three of the six mothballed units at its Poza Rica petrochemical plant in Veracruz state.

After considering several alternatives to reactivate these processing facilities--such as adapting them to process different products, or updating their technologies--the company decided to sell them. The facilities have equipment and material goods that can be reused, and the remainder should be suitable for smelting after dismantlement.

These units, which have been mothballed for the last eight years, include an ethylene unit constructed in 1978 that has a production capacity of 400 million pounds per year; two high-density polyethylene units, each with a production capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year; and a silo. Production was halted mainly due to a lack of feedstock, and since then the situation has not improved. Furthermore, the investment needed to reactivate them is too high; as a result, Pemex Petroquimica was almost forced to sell the units and relocate personnel to operational plants.

Pemex Petroquimica plans to award the contracts and sell the three mothballed units by the end of this year. In the last quarter of 2013, there were contract bids opened for companies interested in participating, but no negotiations were closed.

A few fertilizer plants in the northern part of the country that also were mothballed due to a lack of natural gas are being reactivated, following the boom in U.S. shale gas. Pipelines will be constructed to transport the gas to Mexico.

Pemex's planned reactivation of its Camargo Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide Plant in Chihuahua state, which is expected to produce more than 50,000 metric tons per year of fertilizers, requires an investment of approximately $13 million. The Camargo plant is planned to be operational by December 2014, and its reactivation is having a positive impact in the region, as it is now possible to resume operations at other processing facilities.

For related information see November 12, 2013, article - Mexico: Agrochemical Plant to be Reactivated in Chihuahua; and May 8, 2013, article - Pemex Plans to Restart Agrochemicals Plant in Camargo.

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