Sep
19
Mexico’s Pemex Inks Flotels Deal in Spain
Filed Under EN
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain – Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos signed a 300-million-euro ($392 million) deal Wednesday for the construction of two floating hotels, or flotels, at shipyards in northwestern Spain.
The president of the autonomous community of Galicia, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, who presided over the signing ceremony, said the deal stems from commitments made by Pemex in May to build several ships in that region.
The contracts were signed by Jose Manuel Carrera, head of Pemex Internacional España; Ramon Aguirre Rodriguez, president of the Sepi industrial holding company that owns state-owed Spanish shipbuilder Navantia; and Jose Garcia Costa, president of Spanish private shipyard Barreras.
The two flotels will be identical, both measuring 131 meters (143 yards) in length with a 27-meter beam and a deadweight of 7,000 tons. They will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 12 knots and have the capacity to house 600 oil workers.
They are to be delivered in a period of 30 months and the start of construction is imminent.
According to Nuñez, the two flotels to be built in shipyards in the cities of Ferrol and Vigo will “guarantee employment for more than two years to a total of 3,000 people.”
Feijoo thanked Pemex for “not disappointing expectations” and said Galicia has great hopes for the world’s No. 4 oil company, noting that the deal opens up prospects for greater “opportunities, investment and employment” for both Navantia and the private sector.
He added that Pemex’s “orders for 14 tugs remain on course,” seven of which are to be built entirely in Galicia and another seven “between Galicia and Mexican shipyards.”
Carrera said his company “moves today from words to deeds” and expressed “confidence in these shipyards, which are world-renowned for their innovative capacity in state-of-the-art vessels.”
He praised Navantia’s engineering and noted Barreras’ strong position in the shipbuilding industry.
Feijoo, Aguirre Rodriguez and Carrera also offered their condolences for Tuesday’s deaths of 26 Pemex workers in an explosion at a gas plant outside the northern Mexican city of Reynosa.
Separately, the Port Authority of the northwestern Spanish city of La Coruña said this week it expects to award in early October a concession requested by Pemex to operate a bulk liquids terminal in the outer port.
Pemex has asked for 30,000 sq. meters (322,494 sq. feet) in the port for a facility to blend gasoline for export to Mexico.
The publication of the request in Spain’s Official Bulletin of the State, or BOE, means that the one-month period for other companies to bid on the project will end on Sept. 30, opening the way for the rights to be granted in early October.
Pemex said it planned to invest $70 million in the terminal, which will be completed in two phases and process between 2 million tons and 2.5 million tons annually.
Pemex asked for a 35-year franchise, the longest allowed under Spanish law.
The terminal will serve as a logistics base for Pemex’s operations in Europe. EFE
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