Pemex wraps purchase of Deer Park stake from Shell

Pemex wraps purchase of Deer Park stake from Shell

Houston, 20 January (Argus) — Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex took full control of the 340,000 b/d Deer Park refinery in Texas from Shell today, marking the end of the Anglo-Dutch major's near century-long ownership of the facility.

Under terms of a deal announced in May 2021, Pemex assumed the 50.005pc it did not already own in the facility from its longtime joint venture partner for $596mn, plus the cost of crude inventories, currently estimated around $325mn.

For Shell, the transaction signals the end of 92 years of ownership at the Deer Park facility 20 miles southeast of Houston, as well as its continued move away from North American oil and gas industries. For Pemex, ownership of the refinery — the 16th largest in the US in terms of crude processing capacity according to the company — is intended to herald the beginning of a new era of "energy independence" for Mexico.