A fire broke out shortly after midnight on May 16 at Pemex’s Olmeca refinery in Dos Bocas, Tabasco. Local reports suggested it was a large fire, however Pemex, the operator of the refinery, stated that the fire occurred during scheduled maintenance that involved steam-emptying and controlled venting.
The blaze appeared outside a vacuum residue storage tank, with Pemex stating that it was contained immediately through standard safety procedures. No personnel were injured and operations reportedly face no lasting disruption.
The fire comes as Pemex yesterday reported that it recorded its strongest quarterly crude processing in more than a decade. The National Refining System averaged 1.141 MMb/d in the first quarter of 2026, up 21.9% from the same period last year.
Olmeca contributed an extra 164 Mb/d compared with the first quarter of 2025, while the Tula refinery added 39,000 Mb/d after its coking unit began partial operations last July.
The gains came alongside repeated operational problems at Olmeca. The facility has now experienced at least five safety events this year, including a fire on January 23, a pressure-related shutdown three days later, extended maintenance through mid-March, and another fire inside the coke storage warehouse on April 9, in addition to the fire seen this morning.
Olmeca’s average throughput for the quarter reached roughly 175.8 Mb/d, still 52% below its 340 Mb/d design capacity. Output inside the period fell 15.7% from 187.6 Mb/d in January to 158.1 Mb/d in March.
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