DOE Accepts Offers from PEMEX Subsidiary To Exchange Maya Oil for Higher Quality Crude for SPR

Exchange Will Improve Capability of Nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Meet Energy Emergencies

The Department of Energy has accepted offers from P.M.I. Norteamérico S.A. de C.V., of Houston, Texas, a commercial arm of the Mexican oil company PEMEX, to exchange Maya crude oil currently held in the Nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for two types of higher quality crude oils.

P.M.I. was one of seven companies that submitted offers at the department's bid closing yesterday. Its offers represented the highest value of the "best and final" offers received this morning from the three companies the Energy Department determined to be in a competitive range.

P.M.I. will deliver a total of 8.524 million barrels of oil in exchange for 11 million barrels of Maya crude, the total quantity offered by the Energy Department. The delivered oil will be made up of 4.25 million barrels of Isthmus crude oil and 4.274 million barrels of Olmeca crude oil. The difference in the total quantities of oil reflects the differences in quality between the two higher-grade crudes and the heavier, higher sulfur Maya crude.

P.M.I. will deliver the crude oils from October through December of this year, at which time it will take title to the Maya crude. Under terms of the solicitation, however, the Energy Department has agreed to continue storing the Maya crude for one year.

The Energy Department offered to exchange the Maya crude oil to improve its capability of withdrawing and distributing crude oil from its Bryan Mound, Texas, site in the event of an energy emergency. The Maya crude was purchased in the early 1980s as part of the early buildup of the Reserve. The crude must be stored separately from other crude oils in the Reserve's inventory. This would interfere with the efficient drawdown of the Bryan Mound site and would reduce the rate at which oil could be supplied to the market in the event of an energy emergency. Bryan Mound, located near Freeport, Texas, is one of four major storage sites for the government's emergency crude oil stockpile.

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For additional information, contact:
Robert C. Porter, (202) 586-6503 e-mail: robert.porter@hq.doe.gov