Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc reported that it has registered delays in its payments for the sale of electricity to Pemex.
ACT is a gas cogeneration plant owned 99.99% by Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, through ACT Energy México, and is located within the Nuevo Pemex Gas Processing Plant near the city of Villahermosa in the State of Tabasco, Mexico.
Today, this plant has a nominal capacity of approximately 300 MW and between 550 and 800 metric tons per hour of steam.
Since 2013, ACT reached a commercial operation.
On September 18, 2009, ACT entered into the Pemex Conversion Services Agreement, or the Pemex CSA, with Pemex.
Pemex is a state oil and gas company supervised by CRE, the Mexican state agency that regulates the energy industry.
With expiration on March 31, 2033, the CSA is valid for 20 years from the date of entry into service and will expire on March 31, 2033.
In recent years, Pemex’s credit rating has weakened and is currently BBB from S&P, Ba2 from Moody’s and BB- from Fitch.
«We have been experiencing significant delays in collections from Pemex since the second half of 2019,» said Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure.
Pemex
According to the CSA, ACT must provide, in exchange for a fixed price with tiered adjustments, services that include the supply and transformation of natural gas and water into thermal energy and electricity.
Part of the electricity will be supplied directly to a nearby Pemex facility, allowing the CFE to supply less power to that facility.
Approximately 90% of the electricity must be injected into the Mexican electricity grid to be used by CFE’s retail and industrial end customers in the region.
Then, Pemex is entitled to receive an equivalent amount of energy in more than 1,000 of its facilities in other parts of the country from the CFE, following an adjustment mechanism under the supervision of the CFE.
The CSA is denominated in US dollars. The price is fixed and will be adjusted annually, the adjustments will be made according to a mechanism agreed in the contract that establishes that the average adjustments during the life of the contract must reflect the expected inflation.
