ULSD

For several years hence...

No gasolinera in Mexico will be fully autonomous.

Gulf, Shell, Union, Circle K, all fall under the same umbrella.

PEMEX will be the sole provider of domestic fuel to these stations. Each station will not get it's proprietary brand from a US refinery. Pemex will do the distributing. Pemex will collect the money from the station.

As Time Progresses" this may change but don't hold your breath. It helps to think about the impossibility of purchasing, shipping, storing, and delivering "brands" of different fuels.

"Oh look Kiki! The next slug is going to be USA refined regular gasoline! We are going to take it and sell it and make money because everyone wants it!"

Christ, they had to DYE Magna Sin Green to thwart "honest" Kiki and cuates from switching it outight or heavily diluting with with cheaper No-Va (won't go).

"Oh heeeeeey! The gasolineras in Cuernavaca are out of UBA Diesel. So we switch out our diesel with UBA and make a few thousand pesos"

Got to keep from cross threading the threads on your neck. Fraud is a way of life down here. Or to put it another way: Isn't the idea great of filling up with UBA diesel, that isn't thanks to "Kiki" and friends?"

Calmate. The process is far more complicated than it would be in the USA or Canada.

BTW the figures shown in those charts above are ambiguous. For instance it is far cheaper to import regular US refined LSD diesel to remote Chihuahua and Sonora than it is to ship it north from Reynosa, or Salamanca.

Tijuana, Mexicali, and El Paso have ULSD. If you've driven there during rush hour you would see the tens of thousands of big rigs. Remember, border Pemex comistibles are significantly cheaper than they are further south.

Just for the heck of it I took a look at the numbers for Canada. I think we get a lot of crude from them but then we ship a lot of refined product back up to them. Not nearly as much as Mexico though. And interesting that we send them some high numbers for LSD.

CANADA

……Feb-16….. Mar-16 ……Apr-16….. May-16…… Jun-16…… Jul-16

Total Crude Oil and Products
….. 25,611….. 23,687….. 25,367. …..27,039…… 28,567…… 30,883

Finished Motor Gasoline
….. 1,731….. 988…... 720.….. 528.….. 1,420….. 883

15 ppm and under Sulfur
….. 0……… 2……… 7……… 417…… 1,713….. 986

Greater than 15 to 500 ppm Sulfur
….. 749…… 886…… 732…… 339…… 245……. 63

Greater than 500 to 2000 ppm Sulfur
…… 53……. 73……. 65……. 173…… 134……. 169

I thought I posted this before but maybe not. This is from EIA in USA. The website can be adjusted to show figure for exports of different things to different places. It would seem the US sends a lot of ULSD to Mexico each month. I am not sure how much 222 million gallons per month will help but it seems like a lot. They do have ULSD in Mexico but where it is exactly may not be known until they have enough to put those 15ppm stickers on all the pumps. Maybe there is more info out there on how much finds it's way to Mexico City and how much might go to places such as power plants. And they still do ship some LSD but it doesn't seem like very much.

NO WAY I CAN GET CHART COLUMNS TO LINE UP IN THIS FORMAT.



US ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION

Exports by Destination

PETROLEUM & OTHER LIQUIDS


https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/PET_MOVE_EXPC_DC_NUS-NMX_MBBL_M.htm


DESTINATION - MEXICO…… PERIOD – UNIT…..MONTHLY – THOUSAND BARRELS

………..Feb-16…… Mar-16 …..Apr-16…… May-16….. Jun-16 …..Jul-16

Total Products
........ 18,386 ……….27,490….. 22,693….. 23,538….. 26,237….. 26,120

Finished Motor Gasoline
……… 6,752……. 10,992…… 7,839….. 8,685….. 8,427….. 8,679

15 ppm and under Sulfur
……… 3,031…. 5,904….. 3,577….. 4,952…… 6,360…… 5,288

Greater than 15 to 500 ppm Sulfur
………. 17…….. 1……… 1……………… 128

Greater than 500 to 2000 ppm Sulfur
……….. 1………. 4……….. 5………. 7………. 1……… 3

These figures represent thousands of barrels per month. There are 42 gallons to a barrel. Last figures for ULSD was July 2016 = 5,288,000 X 42 = 222,096,000 or about 222 million gallons per month of ULSD shipped from the US to Mexico per month.

the bad thing about competition is that many of us have used Pemex numbers as landmarks for years.

Mexico has made commitments to cleaner air with the global environment nations. They will need to use ULSD soon to help meet their goals.

That map is just for Valero. Other oil companies and refineries are also shipping to Mexico from Gulf Coast Refineries. There are also refineries in California that may be shipping to western Mexico but I do not know. Once in Mexico they must still use Pemex infrastructure at this point - meaning storage tanks and transportation.

I think one of my previous posts referenced a website that said OXXO was going to switch to showing they have their own branded fuel - so OXXO could have either Pemex or some fuel from US refineries. It would appear that some Pemex stations are getting their fuel from the US - which ones could be hard to say. It would also appear that the Gulf branded stations will only be in the Mexico City area for the foreseeable future.

As Navigator said above - newer municipal buses in the Mexico City area are supposed to be using ULSD so there could be sources of ULSD around Mexico City. Mexico is desperate to clean up Mexico City air and having cleaner fuel is one important step. Could be Gulf Coast fuel to Vera Cruz is then transported to Mexico City. Speculation. Facts could be out there.

One of my other posts showing a website indicated that electric generating plants are switching from diesel or coal to natural gas due to the low cost of natural gas - and it is much cleaner fuel. I think that is the reason new natural gas pipelines are being built in the US. That would reduce the need for diesel in Mexican power plants. Time will tell.

The map is interesting, probably indicates Gulf stationa in Veracuz and the Yucatan will be vending US diesel. We are runnig a French caravan through there in November, I will ask them to enquire at any non pemex stations they encounter.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
My reading leads me to believe that no diesel refinery in the US produces anything but ULSD diesel fuel.

Don't know what you are reading but all major USA refineries are producing enormous quantities of "Non ULSD" fuel. Marine diesel, agricultural diesel, commercial power plant diesel fuel is not ULSD. The USA sells a lot of diesel - much of it to the northern neighbor. Off highway diesel is dyed.

But there is no great surplus of ULSD. This is why Mexico has to occasionally purchase Japanese ULSD through it's Rosarito offshore pumping facility.

I believe the simple warning of "Using Other Than ULSD in This Vehicle Will Void Warranty" serves the purpose.

The U.S.A. may export diesel to Canada (the northern neighbor) but it will be ULSD. We adopted the standard before the Americans did. As for agricultural, those big new tractors on the farms use only ULSD and require DEF.
Don't put our dog in your fight.

Here is another chart (with the website source) showing US import/export of petroleum to/from the 5 largest trade partners. No way I can get any of these charts to line up exactly due to difference in formats or whatever.

Top sources and amounts of U.S. petroleum imports (percent share of total), respective exports, and net imports, 2015

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6

million barrels per day
Import sources……….
........... Gross imports............ Exports………........ Net imports
Canada………. 3.76 (40%)……………. 0.96…………………… 2.81
Saudi Arabia………… 1.06 (11%)……………….. 0.00……………………. 1.06
Venezuela………….. 0.83 (9%)……………. 0.07…………………… 0.75
Mexico……………….. 0.76 (8%)…………………. 0.69………………………. 0.07
Colombia…………….. 0.40 (4%)……………….. 0.17………………… 0.22

Here is a map showing where all the Valero fuel is being exported to.