On Thursday, April 9th, the Mexican state-owned oil company, Pemex, announced that they have successfully extinguished a fire at their Olmeca refinery located in Dos Bocas, southern Mexico. This incident marked the second fire at the facility in less than a month, although there have been no reports of casualties so far.
The company did not provide specific details on the cause of the fire or any damage assessments in their statement. The Olmeca refinery is one of the eight refineries operated by Pemex, with seven located in Mexico and one in Texas, USA.
Pemex stated on their X platform that the CEO, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, is en route to the site to personally oversee operations. Preliminary reports indicated no injuries, and they promised to continue updating with the latest information.
On the same day, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shared on social media, “The head of Pemex and the manager of the Olmeca refinery informed me that the fire was contained to a coke storage area and is under control. As of now, no reports of casualties have been received.”
Sheinbaum added, “150 Pemex employees are involved in firefighting efforts, with support from the Navy, Army, and state government officials. Pemex will continue to release the latest updates through their official channels.”
Images circulating on social media showed thick black smoke and large fireballs emanating from the refinery located at a Gulf of Mexico port, but the authenticity of these visuals could not be immediately verified by the media.
The fire on April 9th marked the second major industrial safety incident at the refinery in recent times. On March 17th, a fire broke out in the vicinity of the refinery involving “oil-contaminated water,” resulting in the tragic deaths of five individuals with several others injured (the exact number of injured was not specified at the time).
In a statement on their official website dated March 17th, Pemex mentioned, “The morning fire spread to the refinery’s fence but did not damage the actual infrastructure, ensuring the operational integrity of the facilities.”
The statement further elaborated, “Five individuals tragically lost their lives, with four of them affiliated with a service company other than Pemex, who were in a vehicle on a federal highway near the refinery when the incident occurred.”
The refinery, constructed at a cost of $21 billion, more than double its initial budget of $9 billion, was envisioned as a flagship project by former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to assist in reducing Mexico’s reliance on imported fuel.
However, since its operational commencement in 2024, the facility has faced ongoing issues and has yet to meet the production targets promised during its inauguration ceremony in 2022. Additionally, there have been at least three fatalities in previous accidents at the facility.
In January of this year, the refinery was producing 205,000 barrels of crude oil per day, along with 77,500 barrels of gasoline and 78,500 barrels of diesel, with a maximum daily processing capacity of 340,000 barrels. The previous government claimed that this capacity was sufficient to guarantee Mexico’s “energy sovereignty.”