The construction of Mexico’s Dos Bocas oil refinery is running $3.6 billion over budget and delays could mean that the flagship project of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador may not start operations this year and not even in time for the state oil firm’s plan to end oil exports in 2023 and focus on refining fuel domestically. Dos Bocas is the favorite project of López Obrador for weaning the country off fuel imports. Originally, the plan for the refinery in López Obrador’s home state of Tabasco was expected to cost US$8 billion . Even when it was announced, analysts doubted the budgeted costs would be sufficient and were not optimistic about the financial viability of the refinery. Back in 2019, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, or IMCO for short) released a damning financial analysis of the Dos Bocas refinery, currently being developed by […]