Mexico Oil

[dan_s]

By Lucia Kassai
(Bloomberg) -- Prices of Canadian crude continued to strengthen Wednesday on doubts that Pemex will soon be able to fully restore production after a platform fire Sunday.
* Cold Lake crude for delivery by pipeline into Gulf Coast in September was quoted at -$4.85/bbl over benchmark WTI CMA, up from around -$5 Tuesday, trader says < This is good news for Hemisphere (HMENF)
** Heavy Canadian oil is an alternative to heavy sour Mexican Maya oil
* Refiners worried about quality issues after fire at Pemex’s E-Ku-A2 offshore platform disrupted power supply to equipment that removes impurities such as water and salt, which can damage refining equipment
* Restart schedule at risk as a weather system approaches the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to reach Mexico on Saturday
* On Sunday, Pemex reported platform fire caused shutdown of 125 wells and the loss of 421k b/d of production.
* Timeline of restart:
** 35 wells restarted by Tuesday, producing 71k b/d
** 29 wells with production of 110k b/d seen back online by Thursday
** Remaining wells to resume production of 240k b/d by Monday: CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza