Barclays Bank, SMBC and Banorte are providing Petroleos Mexicanos with a $500 million bridge loan to help it acquire Royal Dutch Shell’s Deer Park refinery in Texas.

Texas Refinery Project

Commercial bank bridge loans will help cover the total purchase cost of $1.6 billion, which includes refinery assets, inventory and debt. Another $1.1 billion will be allocated to Pemex from Fonadin, Mexico’s national infrastructure fund, as the state-owned oil company knows. A Pemex spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Barnott Bank and Barclays Bank declined to comment.

SMBC did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment sent outside normal business hours. The acquisition comes at a time when Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador seeks to strengthen the country’s control of the country’s energy market, increase Pemex’s reserves and expand its refining capacity. Pemex’s acquisition of the Houston Waterway Refinery will ensure the state-owned oil company’s critical fuel supply. Keywords: engineering construction, engineering news

But the acquisition may also put pressure on Pemex's finances, and the government recently announced that it will inject billions of dollars into the company. As of the end of the third quarter, Pemex’s debt was $113 billion, more than any other oil producer in the world.Editor/XingWentao