RV's in Zihuatanejo

[Talleyho69]

Finally cruised over to El Manglar, the most popular of the two RV parks here in Zihuatanejo.

As of today, there were 7 vehicles in the park, ranging from a truck camper to a large Class A to a very large 5th wheel trailer. It has a capacity of 15 rigs.

What motivated us to check? We had a Class C drive past our home yesterday from Quebec. The day before we were in town and passed a Class C from British Columbia.

Obviously there are visitors from points north to Zihuatanejo, and we are not close to the US border.

SO NICE TO SEE!!!!

Then, Playaboy arrived in town and is staying at one of the just retired parks, Costa Bella. It has been fun spending time with him and we hope to spend more!

[navegator]

Why so little fuel in Mexico. this is not political and please do not make it, it just facts as seen by an insider.

My brother is a marine surveyor and platform inspector and he did inspections for Pemex and all of the companies that had support vessels up to 2014, then came the Odebrecht fiasco.

The refineries in Minatitlan, Tula and Salamanca were supposed to be reconfigured, nothing of that happened they are old refineries that needed to be upgraded, what happened "nothing" they did not have the capacity to produce the quantities needed and no reconstruction to increase capacity was ever done to the tune of 10 million dollars of corruption.

Starting with Felipe Calderon and ending with Enrique Peña-Nieto they decided to sell some of Pemex assets, so be it.

They sold some of the old offshore rigs, that were promptly shut down since the new buyers had no interest in running them, that is were importing the refined oil is more profitable with under the table bribes comes in specially by the higher ups.

The Odebrecht scandal erupts in the USA and in Mexico Pemex nearly goes bankrupt and there is a government change and the principal players all leave Mexico, Felipe Calderon, Enrique Peña-Nieto and the director of Pemex Emilio Lozoya Austin and there is are other individuals implicated in this.

Between 2013 to 2015 the deck of cards collapse and many companies that provided services to the of shore platforms went under, unable to pay docking fees or personnel they anchored the support vessels offshore with no crews on board many have sunk others are moored in port abandoned.

navegator

[qtla9111]

Heavily subsidized. Why is there less gasoline? Because the government's policy is to buy less gasoline from the United States and to produce it here, however, national production is not enough to compensate for what was not purchased.

Between imports and national production, in December 2018, Mexico had one million 144 thousand barrels of gasoline available daily, today it only has 839 thousand, a reduction of 27%.

Producing gasoline in Mexico is still more expensive than doing it in the United States.

[charlestonsouth]

Talleyho, "Maybe things are different other places in Mexico." Bingo! As far as subsidies are concerned, Mexico does not evenly distribute them across the nation and does not evenly withdraw them across the nation. The one region in which Mexico is constantly fiddling with fuel prices and their subsidies is northern Mexico. Why? Because Mexico wants fuel prices more in line with US prices near the border, and Mexico a while back allowed some US retail stations across the border to compete with Mexico retailers; that was the time when Mexico said that the price of fuel would eventually float freely on the open market; however, for that you need competition. The Mexico statement never came true as it continued to give and withdraw subsidies unevenly across the regions.

[charlestonsouth]

Chris, as of January 1, 2021, there were 129 "operable" petroleum refineries in the US. ("Operable" is the key word.) The newest refinery began operating in 2019 in Channelview, Texas.

[Talleyho69]

OK, I'm missing something. Maybe things are different other places in Mexico. I just checked our records and the price of gas here in Zihuatanejo has only varied 2.1 pesos over the last 5 years. Up and down. Currently it is 22.1 for a liter of regular. That is way cheaper than California.

[qtla9111]

In January 2022 the Mexican government refinanced 3.2 billion dollars of Pemex debt.

In June of 2022 Pemex debt increased by an additional 84%.

I know very little about the oil industry but I can say that Pemex has been bleeding heavily since the mid-70s and each Spring the government either pays or refinances Pemex debt.

There are also problems with the distribution of the ever-continuing huachecoleo or theft of fuel and natural gas. We were promised lower prices with the elections of 2018 but that obviously has never occurred.

List of refineries.

Deer Park Refinery (Pemex) Houston, Texas 275,000 bbl/d (43,700 m³/d)

Tula Refinery (Pemex) Tula, Hidalgo 320,000 bbl/d (51,000 m3/d)

Minatitlan Refinery (Pemex) Minatitlan, Veracruz 167,000 bbl/d (26,600 m3/d)

Cadereyta Refinery (Pemex) Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León 217,000 bbl/d (34,500 m3/d)

Salamanca Refinery (Pemex) Salamanca, Guanajuato 192,000 bbl/d (30,500 m3/d)

Francisco I. Madero Refinery (Pemex) Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas 177,000 bbl/d (28,100 m3/d)

Salina Cruz Refinery (Pemex) Salina Cruz, Oaxaca 330,000 bbl/d (52,000 m3/d)

Olmeca Refinery (Pemex) Paraiso, Tabasco Under Construction, Set to open in July 1, 2022.

[charlestonsouth]

Chris, why? Mexico is a major oil producer. Could it be that Mexico has a shortage of refineries to turn that oil into fuel; it imports 80 percent of its fuel from the US. The 80 percent comes from data as of 3/24/2022. This date is before the recent swift rise of prices in fuel. We all know that other reasons have to do with oil shortages as a result of Ukrainian/Russian War and the US's intentional boycotting of Russian oil. You can't refine fuel if you don't have crude oil. We, the US, once imported 8 percent of its oil from Russia. There are other reasons for Mexico's rise; for example, AMLO is slowly taking back the subsidies the government provides to keep the fuel prices lower. Well, where does the money for the subsidies come from? It comes from the revenue generated from Mexico's oil production since Mexico is a major oil producer. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[qtla9111]

True, in Mexico gasoline prices haven't changed much until recently like the rest of the world, but have been consistently higher than U.S. prices.

[Talleyho69]

El Manglar RV park in Zihuatanejo is still a great place. Same owners, different manager, same great condition and location. I suspect it will fill up fast this year and stay that way.

Gas prices here in Mexico haven't changed significantly in years. California??? We are watching where we used to live and the cheap gas station, cash only, was up to $6.70 per gallon for regular yesterday.

[moisheh]

The post above has me wondering if many of the long time RV travelers have also decided to pass on Mexico. We have this discussion often Sometimes I feel we should give it a try. My wife is a definite no
I think what is preventing me from going further south is the complete lack of any police or military forces to safeguard the public. I could expand but for now will remain silent.

[boston_blacky]

El Manglar was a great place for us folks - also from Quebec, Canada about 14 or so years ago. Loved the location plus the excellent owners, etc. But now with the price of fuel combined with ongoing issues around personal safety driving thru Mx., we'll just bid our time closer to home, for now. BB