New Gas Stations Are Opening

[qtla9111]

New and revamped stations that are appearing here in the northern part of Mexico. Change is coming.





More to come I'm sure.

[moisheh]

I doubt there will be true competition. Lots of taxes included in the fuel. Up till now the stations cannot use their own trucks to bring in fuel. Pemex will charge plenty for that. 10,000 people marched in HMO against the pricing. In Baja it was 60,000. People are upset. Wait until Feb. when it goes up again. Although the pricing is supposed to be for one month if the peso drops or world oil prices go up Pemex will raise them even more. Really does not affect tourists that much but sure hurts the locals.


Moisheh

[alfredmay]

If Pemex will only control distribution of products, it stands to reason that the price of fuel between different brands COULD differ greatly. Has this happened yet?

[moisheh]

Without trying to be political Mexico needs a real President. This guy has done nothing. He is very unpopular with good reason.

Moisheh

[qtla9111]

There are articles everyday where the thieves are caught. The big thieves sell to oil companies in the U.S./Guatemala, specifically south Texas. Several of those oil companies have been caught in the act of buying and prosecuted. Pemex has sensors inside the pipelines along with crews that keep vigil over them. Sometimes accidents such as fire, explosions, help to discover/stop the theft.

Makes you wonder about the extent of corruption if you can get fuel in tankers across borders illegally. It must be a huge network to make that possible.

[briansue]

On the side of some major cuotas we have seen very obvious setups with people selling or appearing to sell what appears to be diesel - could be gasoline. They are in full view of everyone. Areas where there are lots of them. Are these the pipeline thieves? Knowing this is Mexico I still have to ask what could be a silly question - how do they get away with this? Is there no enforcement of the law? It is not like these guys are hiding. If authorities just allow this then it just grows and grows and gets worse and worse. Could there be any logical reason for just allowing this?

[moisheh]

55% of gasoline sold in Mexico comes from the USA. Just a few years ago it was nowhere near that much. Most of it is trucked as the pipelines do not go to all areas. Mexico is way behind. The refineries are horrible and I bet they start mothballing a few old ones. They have been buying up chemical companies but not much profits. Thefts from the pipelines is at an all time high and they seem to have lost any control over the thieves. Nieto has been saying that the Gallina that laid the golden egg is dead !

Moisheh

[Wm_Elliot]

Are any of these new non-Pemex stations going to be self serve?

[briansue]

Will these new gas station brands get their products thru the same distribution system as the Pemex brand. In other words will Pemex still control the wholesale end?

From what I have read Pemex will still be the only transport method within Mexico but the stations will be independent of Pemex. One US company I read about was Gulf that plans to ship to Mexico - probably by ship - and sell in stations around Mexico City at first. So they would probably be buying fuel in the US and then putting it on ships to go to Mexico - assuming around Houston to around Veracruz. Then Pemex trucks (maybe trains?) take it to Gulf stations in Mexico City. Pure speculation on my part based on what I read. It will be interesting to see how Mexico taxes these imports. Other brand name fuel sellers from around the world are considering opening stations in Mexico. Existing Pemex stations in Mexico may change their brand names to use fuel brought in by the parent company. Time will tell how this all shakes out.

At this time it seems a good percent of fuel sold in Mexico does come from the US - last I read was 800,000 barrels per day. Pemex refineries in Mexico have fallen way behind and are supposedly in the process of modernizing. Reports say investment money has been paid to refinery construction companies from around the world who are supposedly working on the Pemex refineries but it is hard to say what is actually happening and when work might be completed.

New natural gas pipelines in the US and in Mexico are moving huge quantities of natural gas to electric power plants in Mexico. Mexico buys huge amounts of goods and services from the US spending billions due to NAFTA.

[dewey02]

qtla9111 wrote:
As we say in Spanish, "pongan muchas trabas en el camino" (they put lots of obstacles in the way) but Mexicans are very creative and inventive people.

To the point where they now use cannons to shoot things across the border. I'm waiting for the first illegal human cannonball.

This one even has the destination of the "projectile" painted on the cannon barrel!

[alfredmay]

Will these new gas station brands get their products thru the same distribution system as the Pemex brand. In other words will Pemex still control the wholesale end?

[qtla9111]

As we say in Spanish, "pongan muchas trabas en el camino" (they put lots of obstacles in the way) but Mexicans are very creative and inventive people.

To the point where they now use cannons to shoot things across the border. I'm waiting for the first illegal human cannonball.

[briansue]

Wall is not problem. Everyone just flies over or tunnels under or goes around. Wall means nothing.

[Wm_Elliot]

Where is this wall you speak of?

[midnightsadie]

hope your rv fits threw the hole in the wall.

[qtla9111]

Tvov wrote:
I don't know much about Mexico. So...

What is the big deal about gas stations? What was bad about the old ones?

Mexico´s oil industry was nationalized after the revolution. We are now in a period of energy reform and privatization. Before, there was only one oil company, one logo, franchises existed but they were heavily controlled by the Pemex oil company.

You should read up on Mexico. It´s a wonderful country and lots of people come here with their rvs. Great culture, people, food, music, etc.

Mexico does $580 billion dollars a year in trade with the U.S. and Canada. We´re neighbors!