translated from Spanish: There will be no corruption to build refinery Dos Bocas: Nahle

this month Pemex will choose the company that it will act as a “project manager” to build the refinery of Dos Bocas, Tabasco, the main project in energy of the administration of the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Although the four companies invited to participate are marked by alleged bribes, the Secretary of energy, Rocío Nahle, promises that there will be no corruption in the project.
Nahle, the Coordinator of the new refinery project which will cost between 6 thousand and $ 8 billion, and that the President will be ready in three years, said that Pemex will monitor the chosen company and throughout the recruitment process will use the mechanism of “open Book”, i.e. monitoring of each private enterprise with respect to the draft decision.
PEMEX and the energy Secretariat decided to make a restricted invitation to choose the company that built the refinery: Bechtel-Technit, Worley Parsons-Jacobs Consortium, and Technip and KBR businesses. The four have accusations of alleged bribes in the countries where have carried out projects.
Despite this, Nahle insists that they are the best in the world and curtailed the invitation so that the contractors of other six, that have left half projects in Mexico come.
In an interview with political Animal, the federal official argues that the project is necessary and profitable for the country, and with the rehabilitation of the existing six refineries will they make Mexico self-sufficient in gasoline refining. The budget says, reaching for this and all exploration projects underway having Pemex, i.e. find crude oil to refine.
Be sure that doesn’t happen corruption in Dos Bocas, those companies that were not repeated such practices?
We wondered that. We said which companies in the world. One of them replied, we have not been in 8 columns of any international means; they are companies with more than 100 years and have made more than 200 refineries. Others said that it is not its practice and giving them like being in Mexico with this new policy. Because before they were not told them ‘we don’t want corruption’.
It will depend on a lot of us, Pemex and the direction of the project is has a great responsibility precisely so that will not occur.
 Mechanisms be implemented to make it not happen?
It is important to the project manager, with the Open Book.
But the company that wins the project manager will be the authority to choose the rest and either is designated for bribes. Who will monitor this company?
PEMEX goes with the administration. It is not a blank cheque. It goes with Pemex as administrator, is what makes Open Book. With previous refineries do not need Project manager because Pemex had the Subdirectorate of projects and construction. It was a great area with the best builders, engineers. They did the refineries, complexes, platforms, but they unloaded it, now there are only 150 people in that area.
That is why Pemex has to go through one. On 18 April the companies deliver their proposals with the bidding rules and Pemex will have 10 or 15 days to determine what will, depending on price and quality.
Project manager takes the project and Pemex goes on Open Book, so the system is called, because it will not release the Administration, will be accompanying the project. So we saw that they did other refineries in the world. And we started with the preparation of the land, the early procurement of the equipment that it takes a year or a year and a half in its construction. Most are in Asia and the United States. They will be sent to make the equipment to save you time and make it as soon as possible. In this inter we need to rush all the projects that we are missing.
Will we not see any acts of corruption in the new refinery?
 No, every day will be about that.
The susbsecretario of Hacienda, Arturo Herrera said that he would have no budget this year for refinery…
It is in the 50 billion pesos for this year are on the budget of expenditure of the Federation.
They will be released?
There is a project, members authorized it and it urges us to start with the project to buy the equipment. Imagine that we would have to wait a year because he says a partnership that takes a year (environmental impact statement)!
What profitable cost benefit is this project. Wouldn’t it be much more profitable to invest in Pemex production and exploration?
If it were not so, Shell, the large refineros would not be in this business. Of course that is cost effective, nothing is more value-added. Nothing more is energy security, the added value. Today all countries want oil to process, refine, and have added value. PEMEX is a company that should have a broad vision. We have to go in two directions. You should go to explore, produce, is Pemex is doing, but it is not fought with to do a refinery.
The budget reaches for both?
Yes, Pemex did their specific project and van 116 wells to fetch and in addition the refinery. Strange to me to now think so Mexicans. At the time of development of Pemex one began and ended, and then the petrochemical complexes. And not wondered do we can? we have? And we had less technical professionals, today we have many universities, but this neoliberal political system got us in the head that couldn’t, weren’t able to. Of course not. Today we can do that, refining, and if we had more money we were going by the petrochemical industry.
Is it necessary to have a refinery that is new, not even reconfigure the existing?
We do not want them to reset, the three that we’ve reconfigured have problems, the three who are not, well. We are going to rehabilitate, to give maintenance to the six to be able to increase their capacity. Reset is a change in the process, but we are not going to increase or decrease capacity. In Madero refinery, for example, they decreased capacity because they changed the process, catalytic plant they decreased production capacity.
Has been able to be enough crude oil (raw material) for six current refineries?
Today they are processing 702 thousand barrels per day. When we arrived to have 200 thousand because they had stopped the refineries. PEMEX is making an effort yet to rehabilitate. With an effort if would reach 1 million 200 thousand.
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Original source in Spanish