Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has given the ‘go-ahead’ for the land reclamation to accommodate the new Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery in Dos Bocas, Tabasco. The dredging contract, that values 235 million euro, has been awarded to a consortium of Van Oord and Grupo Huerta Madre.

Large cutter suction dredger

Within 10 months, Van Oord will reclaim 12 million cubic metres of sand to create 600 hectares of new land.

‘We will deploy one of our largest cutter suction dredgers, type Athena (on top photo), and a medium- size trailing suction hopper dredger for the land reclamation’, says Mark Roelofs, one of Van Oord’s dredging directors.

The project also includes 400 hectares of dynamic compaction and 6 million cubic metres of dry earth movement.

Mexico’s national oil company

The 7.3 billion euro Pemex refinery will be owned and operated by Mexico's national oil company Pemex. When operational by May 2022, it will process around 340,000 barrels of heavy crude oil per day. This will make Mexico self-sufficient in the field of refined fuel products and enhance Mexico’s independency.

This news item was originally published on the website of Van Oord