Thank you, Mexico, the US sells more ‘oil’ than ever

They have no qualms about clarifying things: “The United States exported record amounts of oil products in the first half of 2022”, the US government disclosed yesterday. Guess which country is your best customer.

It was perhaps the best moment that oil companies had in a similar period, according to data from Bloomberg.

Exxon racked up $26.3 billion in ready-to-share net profits in April through June alone, the second quarter. That exceeds what the Dos Bocas refinery will cost… in an investment applied in six years.

“In the first half of 2022 (January-June), US exports of petroleum products averaged nearly 6 million barrels per day, the largest number of exports for the first half of the year according to monthly oil supply data, since 1973″, clarified the Energy Information Administration (EIA, in English).

Of course it is a result of the war. Vladimir Putin’s inexplicable Russian invasion of Ukraine sent prices skyrocketing in the first half of this year, turning the energy world into a shambles.

Mexicans were already fighting over LP gas with Asians who use it for masks and textiles, getting more money out of it, instead of burning it in stoves. Now they also compete with Europeans who want to avoid the cold winter that Moscow has already announced, which stopped the supply of natural gas.

“Propane was the most exported United States petroleum product in the first half of this year by volume, continuing a trend started in 2020. United States propane exports averaged 1.4 million barrels per day in the first half of 2022, an increase of 6 percent from the first half of 2021″, detailed the official agency.

“Most of the growth in propane exports in the first half of 2022 went to Europe. United States propane exports to Europe increased 51 percent (87 thousand barrels per day) and set a record of 349 thousand barrels per day in June.

Attention, we are talking about the purchase made by an entire powerful continent. How much did Mexicans buy during the first half of this 2022? An average of 171 thousand barrels of propane per day is what the United States reports.

There is no precedent for that figure, which means a jump of 10 percent compared to 2021.

With just reason, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador complains that they left him a broth of corruption in the national oil sector. Does anyone have any doubts about that?

The obvious question is: When will your government change this trend?

Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term left US propane purchases at a level of 114,000 barrels per day and that of Felipe Calderón, at 39,000 barrels per day.

We must touch the thorny issue of gasoline. According to the government of the neighboring country, Mexico bought 489 thousand barrels of that fuel per day during the first half of 2022, which is the same record figure with which Peña Nieto closed.

But Mexico exports oil, so what is the balance? According to the Bank of Mexico, a growing deficit. The country long ago ceased to be a net exporter and now its status as an importer seems to grow every year. In June, the trade balance reached 4 thousand 669 million dollars and is the highest recorded for the end of the semester.

What looks ahead right now? Mexico is trying to repair the country’s six historic refineries, while completing the construction of one more in Tabasco. That should reduce imports of this fuel and other oil derivatives from 2024.

As for the neighbors, they envision more opportunities: “European sanctions, adopted in June, prohibit imports of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia, including distillate fuel.” It seems that more sales are coming to the old continent.