Braskem Idesa S.A.P.I. wants Mexican state energy company Petróleos Mexicanos to address Mexico's ethane feedstock shortfall by building an input terminal and making improvements at all extraction points, according to a senior director at the Brazilian-Mexican joint venture company.
Pemex is contractually bound to supply Braskem Idesa with 66,000 barrels of ethane a day over 20 years for its $5.2 billion Ethylene XXI petrochemical complex in Nanchital on Mexico's Gulf Coast, which was opened formally in June 2016.
The complex's ethane cracker has a production capacity of 1.05 million metric tons of ethylene a year. Asked Feb. 7 to comment on the effectiveness of the agreement, Cleantho de Paiva Leite Filho, director of institutional relations for Braskem Idesa, replied that "Mexico has a deficit of 30,000-35,000 barrels per day of ethane. That's a volume that would enable all crackers [in Mexico] to work at full capacity."
The shortfall, he told Plastics News, "could be tackled by developing an input terminal and improving extraction at all the current facilities. Some investments need to be made to improve this, [with] more exploration and production at wells."
Leite insisted that "an input terminal is needed. We are always discussing this with Pemex."
Asked separately to comment on Braskem Idesa's progress, CEO Stefan Lanna Lepecki said: "We have challenges for sure. This [Andrés Manuel López Obrador] government is the third one we [at Braskem Idesa] have worked with. Mexico is a very good country for the petrochemical industry to operate in."
Among the advantages, he said, was the availability of feedstock supplies.
In addition to Ethylene XXI, Pemex also supplies ethane to crackers at its Cangrejera and Morelos complexes, which are located close to the Braskem Idesa facility.