Operations resume at Olmeca refinery after error causes work outage

Pemex’s Olmeca refinery successful Tabasco is acceptable to progressively restart operations aft the state-owned institution confirmed that a outer connection nonaccomplishment was liable for a enactment outage past week.

Located successful Dos Bocas, successful the municipality of Paraíso, operation connected the Olmeca refinery began successful August 2019 during the medication of erstwhile President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. While it began operations successful 2022, the refinery has been investigating and commissioning up of afloat commercialized operation.

The Olmeca refinery stands arsenic a centerpiece of Mexico’s vigor strategy successful Tabasco. (Luis López/Cuartoscuro)

According to Pemex, the incidental occurred during electrical load balancing procedures, arsenic operators adjusted a turbo generator. Satellite connection with an airflow power instrumentality failed, triggering the automatic activation of a cogeneration plant’s vigor betterment units. That led to a wide steam failure, resulting contiguous shutdown of the processing plants.

As a effect of the incident, “the complex’s electrical load was reduced from 130 to 65 megawatts per hour, resulting successful the state turbo generators shutting down astatine 00:59 hours connected April 26, 2025.” 

Pemex was speedy to constituent retired that the shutdown did not enactment staff, adjacent communities, the refinery oregon the situation astatine risk.

When asked during a property league if she thought the shutdown was owed to an enactment of sabotage, President Claudia Sheinbaum dismissed the possibility but added that an probe would inactive beryllium necessary. 

“[This] needs to beryllium investigated, but it’s not similar the refinery is retired of work now. It’s thing serious,” she said, adding that the refinery was producing 100,000 barrels per day.

Olmeca processed 6,797 barrels per time successful February and nary successful January, aft the institution reported problems with higher-than-usual brackish and h2o contented successful the crude lipid Pemex pumps. 

According to the Dos Bocas National Port System administration, betwixt 2024 and 2025, the refinery’s pipes transported 4 cardinal barrels of lipid products, with diesel arsenic the main product.. During the aforesaid period, 7.6 cardinal processed barrels of hydrocarbons, mostly diesel, were imported from the United States and different Mexican ports.

The refinery has a capableness to process 340,000 barrels per day. Pemex CEO Victor Rodriguez Padilla said past period that Olmeca would scope afloat capableness this year. 

With reports from El Heraldo de Tabasco, Reuters, and El Economista