EPCA ’03: Mexico’s Phoenix gets no Pemex natgas break

29 September 2003 12:51  [Source: ICIS news]

MONTE CARLO, Monaco (CNI)--Mexico’s Petroquimica chemicals subsidiary receives no break on the costs of natural gas from its parent, state-run oil company Pemex, and cost-advantaged natural gas will play no role in development of its Phoenix project, a Petroquimica executive said here Monday.

 

“Pemex has some advantages but it’s not an attraction for Phoenix,” said Carlos Pani, vice president of sales and marketing at Petroquimica.

 

Pani was interviewed here on the sidelines at the 37th annual meeting* of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA).  Besides outlining the timetable for proposals from foreign investors on Phoenix, Pani also outlined plans for other expansions and discussed the natural gas feedstock policies of Pemex.

 

He said: Mexico has a sound market for natural gas as a fuel so Pemex can sell it at a price of $4.50/m Btu. It’s an argument we do not agree with but there is very little we can do about it. We are just another customer.”

 

That price would place Petroquimica on a par with petrochemical producers on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast.

 

Pani said Petroquimica instead is promoting the use of “natural gasolines” (C5 and C6) as a feedstock, calling it a byproduct the company does not use.

 

He said Petroquimica believes it can develop a pricing structure relying on what he called “natural gasolines” as a feedstock.

 

*EPCA 2003 runs through Tuesday.

By: Gary Taylor
+1 713 525 2653

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