Overview of Pemex’s Refining Performance in 2025
In 2025, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state-owned oil company, reported improvements in its refining operations. The National Refining System, comprising seven plants operated by Pemex, processed an average of 1.014 million barrels of crude daily, representing a 51% utilization rate. This is higher than the 46% usage recorded in 2024.
Meeting the Set Targets
Despite these improvements, Pemex fell short of its 2025 processing target set in the Strategic Plan 2025-2035. The plan aimed for 1.05 million barrels per day, but the actual volume was 3.5% less than this goal.
Year-over-Year Progress
Nonetheless, there were advancements in refining. The 2025 processed volume was 12% higher than in 2024 and the highest since 2015, when six refineries processed an average of 1.064 million barrels per day.
Performance of Individual Refineries
Olmeca Refinery, Paraíso, Tabasco
The Olmeca refinery in Paraíso, Tabasco, processed an average of 134,382 barrels per day in 2025, utilizing 39.5% of its installed capacity. This was a significant increase from the average annual processing of 23,420 barrels per day in 2024, which only utilized 7% of its capacity.
In December, the Dos Bocas refinery reached a historical high with a processing level of 263,402 barrels per day, using 77.4% of its capacity and becoming the year’s top volume refiner.
The traditional National System, which previously had six refineries processing 1.64 million barrels per day of oil, processed 879,435 barrels per day in 2025. This represented a slight 0.3% decrease from 2024.
The utilization rate for the six refineries operated by Pemex before Dos Bocas was 53.6%, down from 53.7% in 2024. However, this decline follows a drop from 65% in 2015 due to insufficient plant maintenance, which has since been addressed to increase domestic crude processing.
Investment and Refinery Performance
Despite annual investments of around $2.5 billion for remodeling, most refineries showed minimal progress in crude processing in 2025. In some cases, annual processing levels decreased.
- Minatitlán refinery in Veracruz processed 101,893 barrels per day in 2025, an 18% decrease from 2024.
- Madero refinery in Tamaulipas processed 99,768 barrels per day, a 12% decrease from the previous year.
- Salamanca refinery in Guanajuato processed 117,712 barrels per day, an 8% decrease from 2024.
- Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca processed 201,271 barrels per day, a 1% increase from 2024.
- Cadereyta refinery in Nuevo León processed 146,547 barrels per day, a 3% increase from the previous year.
- Tula refinery in Hidalgo, with significant equipment replacements and ongoing lighter fuel transformation plant installations, processed 212,244 barrels per day in 2025, a 21% increase from 2024.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is Pemex and its role in Mexico’s oil industry? Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is the state-owned oil company responsible for exploration, production, refining, and marketing of petroleum products in Mexico.
- Why is the 2025 refining target important for Pemex? The 2025 refining target set in the Strategic Plan 2025-2035 is crucial for Pemex to demonstrate its operational efficiency and capacity to meet domestic and international demand for refined products.
- How did individual refineries perform in 2025 compared to 2024? While some refineries, like Dos Bocas and Tula, showed significant improvements and reached historical highs, others, like Minatitlán, Madero, Salamanca, and Salina Cruz, experienced decreases in processing levels.
