At a packed press conference in Dos Bocas, Tabasco; Mexico’s energy minister unveiled a bold plan to fast-track construction of the country’s largest oil refinery to date, a flagship project under the government of then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Rocio Nahle told the reporters gathered back in 2019 that borrowing designs from a previously scrapped refinery venture would save taxpayers a fortune, keep the facility within its US$8 billion budget, and have it up and running in just three years.
More than five years later, the Dos Bocas refinery is still unfinished. Its price tag recently surpassed US$20 billion, making it one of the costliest projects to emerge during the administration of Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO.
The need to get the plant operating is all the more urgent as newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump threatens to slap 25% tariffs on Mexican imports, including crude oil, by Feb. 1. Questions remain about whether Mexico can maintain its strategy of exporting crude to the US while re-importing finished fuels, especially as its refineries continue to operate at limited capacity.
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