Pemex will use Chevron Lummus Globals technology to add more than 13,600 barrels per day of API Group II base oil production capacity to its refinery in Salamanca, Mexico.
In a statement, Chevron Lummus Global said it will partner with Pemex Refinacion, a subsidiary of Mexicos national oil company, on the lube oil modernization project to provide technology, process design and technical support. Pemex will use CLGs Isocracking, Isodewaxing and Isofinishing technologies to produce Group II base oil. The Salamanca plant now has 6,000 b/d of Group I capacity.
At the ICIS Pan-American Base Oils & Lubricants Conference in New Jersey in November 2012, Raloy Lubricantes CEO and President Jorge H. Loya Ramirez said Pemex planned to improve its Group I quality and to offer Group II base oils by 2017.
Ramirez projected 2012 base oil demand in Mexico at 568,400 metric tons, down from 589,400 tons in 2008. Pemex was meeting just 35 percent of domestic base oil demand, he said, with the remaining demand met with imports. He noted that more than 91 percent of Mexicos imported base oils come from the United States.
Richmond, Calif.-based CLG is a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron Products Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp., and CB&Is Technology operating group, and is a licensor for hydroprocessing technologies.