By Stefanie Eschenbacher
MEXICO CITY/HOUSTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A pair of New York
businessmen filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court seeking to block
Mexico's state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) from
taking control of a Texas refinery, claiming the sale would
raise U.S. gasoline prices.
Royal Dutch Shell in May agreed to sell its
majority stake in the 302,800 barrel per day (bpd) Deer Park
refinery outside Houston to Pemex, its long-time
partner in the plant, for about $596 million.
The lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Houston last
week, alleges a sale would lead to "substantially less
competition" in gasoline and "significantly increase" the
plaintiffs' energy costs. They asked the court to permanently
block the sale or force Pemex to divest its holdings.
The deal has been delayed by an ongoing review by the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a
national security group that can block or set restrictions on
foreign purchases of U.S. businesses. The CFIUS launched a
second 45-day review that halted Pemex's plans to complete the
sale this year.
Spokespeople for the CFIUS, U.S. Treasury Department, which
chairs the CFIUS, and Pemex did not respond to requests for
comment. A Shell spokesperson declined to comment.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said the
deal would move Mexico closer to energy self-sufficiency. He has
promised to replace fuel imports by producing more domestically.
Mexico this year imported about 60% of its motor fuel needs.
Lopez Obrador has complained the 28-year-old joint venture https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-sell-interest-deer-park-refinery-partner-pemex-2021-05-24
with Shell had not been good for Mexico as dividends have been
not been repatriated.
Aaron Hagele and Andrew Sarcinella, owners of a Mt. Vernon,
N.Y., coin-operated laundromat who filed the lawsuit, said their
business would suffer "an incalculable but evident" affect if
more of Deer Park's output is exported.
Mark Lavery, an attorney for the pair, told Reuters Deer
Park provides up to 2.5% of U.S. gasoline use and higher exports
would lessen competition and lead to increased prices.
"This is a critical time right now in the gasoline market in
the United States," he said, echoing criticism of high prices by
U.S. President Joe Biden.
(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Adriana Barrera in
Mexico City and Gary McWilliams in Houston Additional reporting
by Echo Wang and Drazen Jorgic
Editing by Mark Potter)
