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Mexico's Dos Bocas Marine Terminal Restarts Operations with Koch S&T Imports

March 17, 2023

The 600,000 b/d AxfalTec marine terminal at the Port of Dos Bocas in Mexico's Tabasco state has restarted operations after being closed for two years, according to port reports and market sources.

The terminal received two shipments over the last week, according to Dos Bocas Port Authority. The facility is one of the five private terminals currently operating in the southern Mexico.

A market source said Koch Supply & Trading LP will be supplying the terminal, adding that Glencore plc sold its stake in the facility to an unidentified third-party exited its position at the terminal. The other owners of the facility are not publicly known.

Glencore had not responded to an OPIS request for comment by the time of publication.

Glencore has been in talks with the Mexican government to have its import terminal renewed, but it's unclear whether or when that may happen. Koch S&T has a 20-year fuel import permit that doesn't expire until 2038.

The AxfalTec terminal has not received fuel since October 2021, when it offloaded 125,600 bbl of regular gasoline. It was idled after the government failed to renew Glencore's annual fuel import permit.

The STI Queen loaded in Houston on March 3 and arrived first to offload product in Veracruz on March 8, where Koch Industries has offtake capacity with Vopak, according to vessel tracking data. The ship arrived at Dos Bocas on March 11.


The Ibis Pacific loaded product in New Orleans on March 9 and offload part of its cargo at Veracruz on March 13 before arriving at Dos Bocas on March 15.

Glencore received its first gasoline shipment in August 2018, before President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office, after the trading group invested $50 million in the facility to increase Mexico's fuel storage capacity. Glencore was importing more than 20,000 b/d of gasoline and diesel through the facility at the peak of activity in early 2021.

The company formed a partnership in March 2017 with G500, a local group of fuel retailers. The parties created the G500 Network retail brand and branded distribution operation, which has more than 500 pump sites mostly across Mexico's central and southern regions, according to the company's website.

Reporting by Karla Omaña, komana@opinset.com

Editing by Daniel Rodriguez,
drodriguez@opisnet.com, and Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com



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