Mexican state-owned refiner Pemex's trading arm, PMI, issued a spot tender for petroleum coke from the new 340,000 b/d Olmeca refinery last week, adding to an already well-supplied regional market.
PMI offered roughly 20,000t of coke from Pemex's Olmeca refinery in a spot tender issued 23 August. The tender was heard to have closed at a low price on Tuesday.
The export-focused Olmeca refinery, located near the Dos Bocas port in the southern Gulf of Mexico, produced roughly 49,400t of coke in July, according to the latest data from Pemex. But PMI could struggle to find a consistent export-basis buyer.
Dos Bocas is a small port, limiting cargo sizes. And Pemex's coke can at times have a slightly higher sulphur content than typical US Gulf coast coke, which could restrict the number of interested buyers, as consumers in countries such as Turkey must keep their fuel blends below a certain sulphur level. Meanwhile, the greater Atlantic basin region has a sufficient amount of coke available, with prices recently softening as demand has fallen on weaker cement markets.
Mexican energy ministry Sener earlier this year released an outlook suggesting Olmeca's coker would produce coke at a rate of about 1,450 t/d in 2024, or about 529,900t. While the unit exceeded that rate in July, the refinery is far from meeting the projected figure for this year because of delays in its startup.
Olmeca's coker is expected to produce about 1,800 t/d of coke in 2025, according to Sener, suggesting the refinery could produce 662,400t next year.
Coke production at some of Pemex's other Mexican refineries has increased as well. Output across the refiner's Mexican system rose to roughly 1.19 mn t in January-June, up by 45pc from the same period last year. Production at the Cadereyta refinery's coker increased by 53pc on the year in the first half.
The Cadereyta refinery has a large amount of coke in storage, according to market participants. This could prompt a domestic tender in the coming months, one source said.
But a domestic tender, if issued, may also be negotiated at a low price, as domestic buyers have been paring down their coke consumption on lower cement demand and increasing use of alternative fuels.
