Wood Mackenzie monitoring showed increased activity at Pemex’s Deer Park, TX, refinery following a series of unit restarts. The 270,000 bpd CDU and 115,000 bpd VDU came back online during the morning of Nov 23, alongside the 38,500-bpd distillate hydrotreater and 72,000 bpd reformer feed hydrotreater. Wood Mackenzie monitoring also noted that the 92,000 bpd coker restarted on Nov 22, while catalytic reformers and hydrocrackers saw activity earlier in the week. The refinery started planned maintenance in early October.
Ahead of these restarts, heavy Maya crude imports surged into Deer Park. The Jag Laxmi discharged over 79,000 bpd on Nov 19, following the Hovden Spirit’s arrival on Nov 11 with 76,000 bpd and an earlier delivery of 74,000 bpd at the end of October. All cargoes were Maya, a Mexican heavy grade with an API of 22.1, underscoring Pemex’s reliance on domestic production to feed its units.
In the week ending Nov 21, Wood Makenzie ship tracking showed Mexico exported 673,000 bpd to facilities in PADD 3. The volumes were a mix of crude grades including light Isthmus oil, medium Mitzon barrels, and heavy grades Maya and Altamira. Totals were well above recent averages.
