Mexico exported its first ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) cargo from state-owned Pemex's 340,000 b/d Olmeca refinery, according to vessel tracking data and market sources.
The MR tanker Torm Singapore loaded 300,000 bl of ULSD at the Dos Bocas port on 28 March. It discharged about 40,000 bl at Seaport Canaveral near Orlando, Florida, Kpler data shows. The remaining 260,000 bl were discharged at the Yabucoa port in Puerto Rico.
The Olmeca refinery began construction during the former administration of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and was symbolically inaugurated in 2022, but has faced multiple challenges and start-up woes since. Its initial construction costs have doubled to over $17bn.
Olmeca started producing ULSD last year, using a distillate feedstock produced at the 190,000 b/d Madero refinery, as Olmeca's crude distillation unit has faced multiple delays.
The refinery is still in a testing phase in 2025. It processed about 6,800 b/d of crude in February, Pemex latest data show.
Olmeca was originally touted as a key component of the government's desired road fuels self-sufficiency policy. But Pemex's trading arm PMI has also studied lucrative ULSD export opportunities in Florida, the Caribbean and Central America, market sources told Argus. These areas depend heavily on imported diesel and face infrastructure constraints.
Earlier in March, Pemex shipped internally about 280,000 bl of gasoline from Olmeca to ports in Veracruz, according to Kpler Data. Olmeca's most viable domestic fuel distribution routes remain tank trucks and vessels, which could then discharge in other terminals on Mexico's east coast.
Olmeca's limited domestic fuel sales are made directly to area fuel retailers from southern Veracruz and Tabasco, who send trucks directly to the terminal for loading, according to market sources.
