The trading arm of Mexican state owned oil company Pemex, PMI, is closing on multiple Panamax cargoes of light sweet Bakken to be delivered in the Pajaritos terminal through early December. US oil production from the Bakken Formation coming from Montana and North Dakota is exceeding 1.2 million barrels per day.

Four separate contracts of 350,000 bbl are being signed and details have not been disclosed yet. This is the second attempt from Pemex to import crude after failing to award a tender in October due to timing and the price expectations originally set by the company.

Mexico has historically relied on its domestically produced oil to process in its refineries, but environmental regulators have imposed a sulfur limit on many of those refineries that would require more light sweet crude runs. Olmeca crude production has been trending downward, leaving little available for domestic consumption.

The tenders mark a turning point in an initiative developed more than three years ago for Mexico to begin importing light sweet crude from the US to balance out its increasingly heavy crude production.

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