First Chevron gas station opens in Mexico

Oil Company Chevron has opened its first gas station in Mexico , supplied by Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) and offering fuel at the price currently being sold in the U.S. – that is, at higher prices than the national competition.

A comparison made by EL UNIVERSAL in Hermosillo, Sonora , shows the liter of Premium fuel – called Supreme by Chevron – is being sold at 17.79 Mexican pesos ($ 0.99 USD), while Pemex sells it for 17.54 ($0.98 USD); Magna fuel – or Regular – costs 15.99 ($0.89 USD) while PEMEX offers it for 15.84 ($.088 USD).

Despite selling at more expensive prices, long queues have formed at the gas station, with clients seeking to buy the new fuel which includes the Techron additive , according to Chevron's regional manager, Luis Ontiveros.

Chevron is an American oil company engaged in hydrocarbon and natural gas exploration, production, refining, transport, and marketing, in addition to their development in renewable energy and power generation.

They have over 22 thousand retail outlets worldwide – with a presence in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago –, and sell a wide range of products, such as petrochemicals, natural gas, gasoline, additives, and lubricants, among others.

The Secretary of Economy of Sonora, Jorge Vidal Ahumada, has said that during the first months of operations, Chevron gas stations will be supplied by PEMEX , while they continue with the export process to supply their own fuel, produced in California, Unites States .

Luis Huesca Reynoso, scholar at the Nutrition and Development Research Center, said that while the presence of another distributor will help promote competition in the fuel and diesel market, regular fuel is not expected to be sold for less than 15.90 per liter.

He has cautioned that the energetic reform is progressing slowly and that, at the moment, the only concern is the distribution and marketing of fuel, which means Chevron can only buy from PEMEX in the meantime.

Luis Horacio Muñoz, president of the Oil Distributors Organization in Sonora agrees with Jorge Vidal, but mentioned that the difference in prices also lies on the additive used in the product.

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