Latin American petroleum industry reeling from coronavifus-related lockdowns

摘要

In the week ending March 21，which is a week before stay-at-home orders were put in place,Mexico's imports fell to 442K b/d,which is the lowest volume since June 2019.Gasoline demand was measured 797K b/d during the week,which was approximately 5K b/a nigher compared to the previous week.Gasoline stocks fell from 6.637MM bbl to 5.997MM bbl over the same period.Even though the country lacks long-term storage capacity,it built its gasoline stocks over the past five years.Meanwhile,Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador announced that state-owned Pemex will be granted a 65B-peso($2.6B)tax cut in light of the coronavirus outbreak and falling oil prices.Meanwhile,Victor Arellano or fuel retailer's association Onexpo noted that the country's fuel retailers,especially smaller chains,could face severe cash-flow problems because of the stay-at-home orders.Fuel retailets have asked state-owned Pemex to extend additional credit lines and to delay credit due dates.