Pemex taps private trucks during fuel shortage

Mexico's state-run Pemex has enlisted 3,600 fuel trucks from private operators to supplement its own fleet of 1,600 trucks as it struggles to manage fuel shortages caused by a government anti-theft effort, the energy ministry (Sener) said.

Yet even 5,200 trucks might not be enough, Cesar Cadena, chief executive at private diesel transport and storage company Grupo Energeticos told Argus.

Mexico consumed more than 1.1mn b/d of motor fuels, including 792,000 b/d of gasoline and 328,000 b/d of diesel, in the week ended 28 December according to data from Sener.

Transporting all of this fuel would require over 11,500 trucks with 15,000 l of capacity each.

"The deficit in the number of trucks is immense," Cadena said. "The president called for trucks from private transporters, but no one has $200,000 trucks just parked outside ready for when the president needs them."

Besides the truck deficit, the country has to overcome another challenge: most of the ports and the six refineries are not designed to offload to trucks.

"This is not something you do because you want," Cadena said. "There is an actual physical impossibility in the refineries to offload on trucks as they are connected to pipelines."

Tank trucks are lined up for miles at the 315,000 b/d Tula refinery, which is the main source of supply for the affected areas.

The country imported 731,000 b/d of gasoline in the week ended 28 December, up by 37pc from the previous week, and 313,000 b/d of diesel, up by 11pc in the same period. A significant portion of the fuel in central Mexico is being transported by trucks as six of the country's most theft-prone pipelines are closed — a strategy the government said it intends to continue, despite the shortages.

As the distribution delays were just starting, gasoline inventories rose by 2.5pc to 3.5mn bl in the week ended 28 December from the previous week while diesel inventories increased by 24pc to 2.4mn bl, according to Sener weekly data.

Sener launched the weekly data report in 2018, and figures are preliminary and subject to change.