Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) announced the purchase of the Deer Park oil refinery in Houston for a US$600 million deal.
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Dutch oil company Shell agreed to sell its 50 percent of the refinery's share to the state-owned Mexican Petroleum Company (PEMEX) in a deal set to boost Mexico's energy self-sufficiency by 2023.
"This acquisition will be fully financed by the federal government and the sale operation is scheduled to close in the last quarter of this year under U.S. regulations," PEMEX officials said.
The Deer Park refinery has a production capacity of 340,000 barrels of oil per day, 90,000 barrels of diesel, and 25,000 barrels of turbosine.
It covers 2,300 acres and is fully integrated into a chemical plant that will remain in Shell's hands. It has also around 1,500 employees and 1,200 contractors.
"We are going to stop buying fuels and gasoline abroad. PEMEX is going to process all the crude oil and convert it into diesel and gasoline. We are going to be self-sufficient," AMLO stressed.
"We received six refineries in bad condition... and we are modernizing them to expand our refining capacity," he added.