Pemex Salamanca (Refinería Ing. Antonio M. Amor) lube base oil plant

Pemex Transformación Industrial · Petróleos Mexicanos (Mexican state-owned) · Salamanca, Guanajua · MX

Operating Mexico Group I

b/d base oil capacity: 6,000
API groups made: 1
rank of 22 plants on record: #14
events on record: 2

Base oil capability

Group I · 6,000 b/d

Mexico's only base oil plant, inside the Refinería Ing. Antonio M. Amor (RIAMA), Salamanca, which started operations July 30, 1950 (220,000 b/d crude, 45 plants, 518 ha per a Feb 2022 Chamber of Deputies proposal). The lubricants and paraffins plant started in 1955. Latest public status descriptions: Lube Report (Jan 19, 2022) says the Group I plant 'has been operating significantly below' its 6,000 b/d rate 'for years', observers citing insufficient upkeep, and that upgrade initiatives discussed over two decades 'have fallen by the wayside'; a Dec 2019 Lube Report conference account had the plant at half capacity with two trains run in parallel. The Feb 10, 2022 Gaceta Parlamentaria proposal asked Sener and Pemex to 'recuperar el tren de lubricantes actual' and to update project 0318T4M0115 'Tren de Lubricantes de la Refinería de Salamanca'. Status 'operating' rests on these 2022 sources; no 2023-2026 public confirmation of lube plant operation or output was found. Pemex's monthly 'Estadísticas petroleras' fold lubricantes into 'Otros' with asphalt, paraffins, furfural extract, coke and others, so no production series exists.

API group	b/d	As published	Basis	In effect	Source
Group I	6,000	6,000 b/d Lubes'n'Greases magazine (May 27, 2014): the Salamanca refinery 'has nameplate capacity to make 6,000 barrels per day of Group I', attributed to remarks by Raloy Lubricantes CEO Jorge H. Loya Ramirez at the ICIS Pan-American Base Oils conference; the same article reports actual output around 4,000 b/d with a 2013 target of 5,200 b/d, and base oil output falling from 258,000 t in 2008 to under 178,000 t in 2012. Later free articles (2019, 2022) repeat 6,000 b/d citing Lubes'n'Greases' own plant data.	nameplate	—	Lubes'n'Greases magazine medium

Owners: Petróleos Mexicanos 100%

Base oil events and projects

2022-02-10 Other Group I salamanca-tren-de-lubricantes-0318T4M0115
Proposal (punto de acuerdo) by Dip. Raquel Bonilla Herrera in the Gaceta Parlamentaria urging Sener and Pemex to include RIAMA in the ten tasks to strengthen Pemex, to examine and update investment project 0318T4M0115 'Tren de Lubricantes de la Refinería de Salamanca' (new plants plus modernisation of the existing lube train), and to assign public funds or public-private partnerships to 'recuperar el tren de lubricantes actual y proyectar uno nuevo'. States the refinery produces Group I base oils and that Mexico imported about USD 6.2 billion / 11.6 billion litres of base oils in 2003-2020. Cámara de Diputados (Mexico) medium
2022-01-19 Other Group I
Mexico's energy secretary Norma Rocío Nahle García told Milenio (interview published Jan 13, 2022) that raising Pemex base oil output is part of a strategy to lower dependence on imported fuel and lubricants; any increase would presumably come at Salamanca, the nation's only base oil plant, which has run well below its 6,000 b/d Group I capacity for years. No volume or investment given. Lubes'n'Greases Lube Report medium

Not established from public sources: No Pemex document opened states the lube plant's capacity, grades, process or output: the Pemex 'Estadísticas petroleras' production table (indicador.pdf, 2026) groups lubricantes under 'Otros' and the FY2024 Form 20-F narrative could not be retrieved (only XBRL tags, including a SalamancaRefineryMember, were returned). The 6,000 b/d Group I nameplate figure comes from a 2014 trade-press article quoting a conference speaker. Process route is not recorded: Group I plus 'extracto furfural' in Pemex's product list implies solvent (furfural) refining but no source opened says so. Grades (SN cuts, bright stock), feedstock, brands and logistics not found. Coordinates (20.5739, -101.1957) are the refinery's, geocoded from the Spanish Wikipedia infobox ('20°34′26″N 101°11′45″O'), not the lube plant itself; approximate. Current operating status (2023-2026) unconfirmed; the Chevron Lummus Group II project (>13,600 b/d, announced ~2012-2013) is referenced only in search snippets and is reported as abandoned by 2022, so it is not recorded as an active project. No 2020-2026 outage, turnaround or price event specific to the lube plant was found on free pages. 1 value is held back because only a paid source supports it.

Reach

How product leaves this plant is not yet on record. Base oils move by truck, rail, barge and vessel; pipelines rarely carry them.

Events

Project	Group	Announced	First public target	Current target	Actual	b/d
salamanca-tren-de-lubricantes-0318T4M0115 Proposal (punto de acuerdo) by Dip. Raquel Bonilla Herrera in the Gaceta Parlamentaria urging Sener and Pemex to include RIAMA in the ten tasks to strengthen Pemex, to examine and update investment project 0318T4M0115 'Tren de Lubricantes de la Refinería de Salamanca' (new plants plus modernisation of the existing lube train), and to assign public funds or public-private partnerships to 'recuperar el tren de lubricantes actual y proyectar uno nuevo'. States the refinery produces Group I base oils and that Mexico imported about USD 6.2 billion / 11.6 billion litres of base oils in 2003-2020.	Group I	2022-02-10	—	—	—	—

2022-02-10 Other salamanca-tren-de-lubricantes-0318T4M0115
Proposal (punto de acuerdo) by Dip. Raquel Bonilla Herrera in the Gaceta Parlamentaria urging Sener and Pemex to include RIAMA in the ten tasks to strengthen Pemex, to examine and update investment project 0318T4M0115 'Tren de Lubricantes de la Refinería de Salamanca' (new plants plus modernisation of the existing lube train), and to assign public funds or public-private partnerships to 'recuperar el tren de lubricantes actual y proyectar uno nuevo'. States the refinery produces Group I base oils and that Mexico imported about USD 6.2 billion / 11.6 billion litres of base oils in 2003-2020. Cámara de Diputados (Mexico)
2022-01-19 Other
Mexico's energy secretary Norma Rocío Nahle García told Milenio (interview published Jan 13, 2022) that raising Pemex base oil output is part of a strategy to lower dependence on imported fuel and lubricants; any increase would presumably come at Salamanca, the nation's only base oil plant, which has run well below its 6,000 b/d Group I capacity for years. No volume or investment given. Lubes'n'Greases Lube Report

Rates are pipeline line-haul transcribed from published FERC tariffs; every figure cites its tariff and item. Cost to serve (netback) adds origin spot price and destination fees. "Confirmed" links match a tariff delivery point to the facility; "same city" means the point is in the facility's city — plausible, not proof; "per research" means the facility's research profile names the pipeline as an outlet.