By Ana Isabel Martinez
MEXICO CITY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil company
Petroleos Mexicanos will take control of the Deer Park refinery
in Houston, Texas on Jan. 20, three sources with knowledge of
the matter said on Thursday.
Royal Dutch Shell in May agreed to sell its
majority stake in the Deer Park refinery, which can process up
to 340,000 barrels per day (bpd), to Pemex, its
long-time partner in the plant, for about $596 million.
"Next Thursday, the payment and transfer of the asset will
happen," said a Pemex source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "The refinery will then be operated directly by
Pemex".
Pemex has reached an agreement with personnel already
working in the refinery, the source added.
The operators would be the same to guarantee stability, but
they would no longer be working for Shell, the source said.
A Pemex delegation, including Chief Executive Officer
Octavio Romero, will travel to Texas to finalize the deal on
Thursday, a second source added.
Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment
and a Shell spokesman did not immediately confirm the delivery
date.
A third source close to the talks said there are still final
transition activities pending, but added that he expected the
deal to complete in the next few days.
Conversations had accelerated in recent days in order to
complete the entire purchase operation before Feb. 1, the third
source added.
Neither Shell nor Pemex have detailed what volumes of
refined product Mexico will receive from the Texas plant nor how
much crude it will be able to supply from now on.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez
Additional reporting by Dave Graham in Mexico City and Gary
McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
