ULSD

Nothing will happen until the feds require all new vehicles to require ULSD. This would include: software changes, a DPF system, a SCR system, changes to the EGR and probably injection changes. Cost would be at least $20,000. ULSD would have to be available everywhere. How would the farmers and those with older trucks afford the increase in the cost of the fuel? Lots of problems.

Moisheh

You will never see ULSD until it is Federally Mandated, which is years away. What company, be it Gulf or Oxxo or other groups, is going to invest in infrastructure such as dedicated underground tanks at the gas stations or a tank at their tank farm, to supply a few hundred vehicles?
It all comes down to money and profits.

I do not claim to know anything. I report on things I have read and I usually post websites to where what I read can be found.

I have posted about this topic previously and provided websites so I am just winging it off the top of my head here.

Supposedly the transition to using other sources of fuel in Mexico has already begun. How this will happen I have no idea.

Contracts have already been let and construction and refitting of old refineries has begun. Money has been paid to various different companies around the world who are contracted to do the upgrades to Mexico's refineries. They are bringing in international specialists who have built reduced pollution refineries around the world. Notices online clearly indicate this money has been paid.

Researching information for another forum topic about Hoy No Circula I also came across written laws about getting ULSD in Mexico and primarily Mexico City and other large cities in an attempt to reduce pollution. They know it must be done and they are working on it according to the articles I have read and posted website addresses here previously. The Hoy No Circula law I found talked more about cleaning up vehicles and inspecting vehicles and cleaning up the fuel supply than it did about who can drive what and where.

Research I have done on the internet has turned up no refinery in the US that still produces LSD fuel - all indications are that no US refinery continues to produce LSD - only ULSD is produced in the US - there is simply no economically feasible reason for US producers to produce anything but ULSD. If it comes from the US it will be ULSD.

I also posted about at least two pipelines from oil fields in the US that are being built to the Mexican border. What this means I do not know. I believe this would be crude oil but not sure. We saw the pipelines last winter near Van Horn, TX and inquired about them. One will run south from Van Horn and the other from Van Horn to El Paso and then south from there.

At least two major US oil exploration companies are already working in Mexico - Schlumberger and Halliburton - and there are probably others. It is my understanding that new wells are being drilled and new fields are opening up.

Things are changing but who knows where they are going. Who can keep up with it all....

They cannot advertise it (Mex Gobernacion rule) and ULSD costs considerably more than Mexican refined diesel. The station would become uncompetitive. Plus commercial diesels would avoid it like the plague if it became public knowledge. There is no easy answer.

Pipelines are (guess what?) owned by Pemex. They do not truck ULSD into Baja California. Comistibles are piped to Pemex tank farms then dispensed into pipas tanker trucks. If you think Pemex is going to pump a competitor's fuel for free......?!?

Now that the price difference of Magna and Premium has widened, transport services have taken liberties mixing cheaper fuel with more expensive grade. This has been true since the days of Pemex Cien and Super Mexolina.

In Baja California it is the huge distances involved that discourage the hauling of low sulfur diesel and Magna Sin to dilute into Premium. On the mainland, the barrier disappears.

I've no answer as to how to go about relieving all these barriers and traps. But for simple economics I have returned to purchasing Magna, then adding a bottle of Chevron Techron every 2,000 miles. Well, you can't have everything.

If and when ULSD enters a pipeline behind a pig, you can bet your butt it will be sent to D.F. first then to the state of Mexico. This is ironclad law and is going to remain a sore-point between the PRD party in power in the distrito and the PRI and Pemex. The regulation will be enforced meticulously for political reasons. The PRD will then publicly gloat "WE are the party that forced the cleanup of air pollution in Mexico City"

Last I heard the law to allow purchasing from anywhere went into affect April 1, 2016 - but I could be wrong - I posted about it way back last winter and forget the details.

There are now a number of what I call consortiums made up of many franchisees who have joined together as one group. One I have seen a lot is G500 - seen on signs in many Pemex stations. There were 500 franchisees but now I have heard they are up to over 1,000. Anway, this gives these groups some serious buying power - and they can use their own tankers to haul fuel from wherever.

What this all adds up to at this point I do not know - time will tell - but watch for stations with big banners saying things like G500 - and I think OXXO is also going to be hauling their own fuel but not sure - I also heard OXXO may even change the name of their fuel so the sign may not say Pemex anymore. Then there was a story that Gulf is going to be opening stations in Mexico that will show the Gulf brand sign. Who knows what will happen next?



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