Marketer Cautions Fuel Suppliers about CNE’s Upcoming Self-Consumption Regularization Program
Fuel marketers and distributors in Mexico could lose hundreds of customers if self-consumption fuel facilities fail to register under an upcoming government regularization program, according to one of the country’s largest independent fuel marketers.
“If these self-consumption facilities do not register, distributors and marketers will eventually be instructed not to supply them with fuel,” Alberto Valdivieso, CEO of Mexico City-based fuel marketing and distribution company F. Ruiz e Hijos, said in an interview with OPIS.
Self-consumption facilities represent an important customer segment for fuel suppliers, particularly in trucking, mining, construction, transportation and
logistics, where companies operate private fueling stations for their own fleets.
Under Mexico’s Hydrocarbons Sector Law, marketers sell fuel while distributors are responsible for its storage and delivery, leaving both sectors exposed to any disruption in supplies to self-consumption customers.
“Many of our customers are self-consumption facilities, and our responsibility will be to guide them through this transition, so it is as smooth as possible and they comply with the authorities’ requirements,” Valdivieso said.
His company primarily serves the Mexico City metropolitan area but, through partnerships, also supplies customers in Veracruz, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Monterrey and San Luis Potosí.
He estimates there are about 200 fuel marketers and roughly 100 fuel distributors operating in Mexico.
Mexico’s energy regulator, the National Energy Commission (CNE) said it will launch a temporary registration program for self-consumption fuel facilities in
the coming weeks. The initiative is intended to pave the way for enforcement beginning in 2027, when facilities that remain unregistered could face fines
and lose access to fuel supplies.
CNE’s registration phase will also allow authorities to identify companies looking for a self-consumption fuel dispatch permit while detecting existing facilities before launching the permitting process and ultimately enforcing the new rules, according to Valdivieso.
During the transition, distributors and fuel marketers will be allowed to continue their permitted activities, provided they execute fuel supply contracts with companies registered with the CNE.
“The authorities will finally be able to determine the size of this universe and based on that they will have to develop the capacity to oversee and regulate so many different sectors and economic activities,” Valdivieso said.
Reporting by José Luis Adriano, jadriano@opisnet.com; Editing by Karla Omaña, komana@opisnet.com and Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com