Braskem Idesa says Pemex fails to send $26 million credit note

Sao Paulo — Mexico's Braskem Idesa has not received a credit note worth about $26 million from state-run Pemex for failing to supply an agreed amount of ethane, Braskem said Thursday.

According to Braskem Idesa, the payment is related to "limited damages" and is provided for in an ethane contract signed by the two companies. The contract integrates the Mexican petrochemical complex's financing structure.

Braskem Idesa was not available for comment immediately Thursday on when the note was due or what its next steps would be.

Braskem Idesa is a joint venture between Brazil's Braskem and Mexico's Idesa and has a nameplate production capacity of 1.05 million mt/year each of ethylene and polyethylene.

On Wednesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government was analyzing the possibility of canceling the supply contract between Pemex and Braskem Idesa. The joint venture, on the other hand, said it has been talking to Pemex and will take the appropriate contractual measures if necessary.

The deal was signed in February 2010 and involves Pemex providing Braskem Idesa with 66,000 b/d of ethane for 20 years. However, the state-owned company has been struggling to fulfill its part of the agreement. In 2018, former Braskem president Fernando Musa said Pemex was facing operational challenges and could not deliver all the ethane it needed.

In the first half of February, Braskem Idesa said the company received its first imported ethane cargo so it could produce polyethylene at the complex in Veracruz.

Pemex did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.