Crude Summit: Mexico to import US light crude

Mexico will begin importing light crude from the United States to test in its refineries, an official with the trading arm of Mexican state-owned oil firm Pemex said today.

The imports will happen sometime this year, said Margarita Perez, executive vice president of refined and petrochemical products with PMI. She made the comments at the Argus Americas Crude Summit in Houston.

The test cargoes will not involve swaps, as was originally expected when US regulators allowed Pemex in October to import 75,000 b/d of US light crude in exchange for heavier Mexican crude. Rather they are outright imports from the US now that restrictions on most US crude exports were lifted last month.

Pemex has long shown interest in US light crude grades to blend with domestically produced heavy oil supplying three of its six refineries. This blending will allow the refineries to produce higher margin products like diesel and gasoline. Pemex said the addition of the US light crude could add nearly $2/bl to Mexico refineries' margins.