Pemex plans restart of propylene production at Salina Cruz and Minatitlan

31-Jul-17

Mexico's Pemex is planning to begin restart of propylene production at two of its refineries next week as it brings key processing units back online, as per company sources in Platts.
Pemex will restart a fluid catalytic cracker next week at its Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca, which has been shut following a June 14 fire. Pemex's Minatitlan refinery in Veracruz will see the first of two FCC units come back online August 5, and the second unit would be restarted on August 12. The Minatitlan units had been offline for maintenance, the source previously said. Pemex did not respond to repeated requests for official comment.

The Salina Cruz refinery on the Pacific Coast is the largest in Mexico and a major source of refinery-grade propylene, a key feedstock for the manufacture of polypropylene resin. Salina Cruz is also a major supplier of residual fuel oil across the US border to California. The fire at Salina Cruz was the result of an oil spill reaching an ignition point in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Calvin, Pemex said earlier this month.