Pemex receives U.S. oil swap license, but for less than planned

State oil company Pemex said on Wednesday it had received a license from the United States to import U.S. light crude in exchange for exports of Mexico's heavier crude oil for the first time, but with a lower ceiling than originally planned.

The terms of the year-long license will allow Pemex's commercial arm, Pemex Comercio Internacional (PMI), to import U.S. light crude to process in its refineries from October, with the limit capped at 75,000 barrels per day (bpd).

A Pemex spokesman said the decision to cut the original plan to import up to 100,000 barrels per day was made in accordance with the company's present needs at its refineries.

The first U.S. shipment would arrive in Mexico from the first half of November, he said.

"The permit is for 75,000 (bpd) because that's what we asked for," he said. "They gave us permission for 75,000 (bpd) for one year, but when that year ends, we can ask for more or less, whatever we need."

The spokesman said it was not a like-for-like swap deal, and that Mexico was not obliged to export an additional 75,000 barrels per day to the United States.

Pemex director of corporate partnerships and new business, Jose Manuel Carrera, said in a radio interview that up to 27 million barrels of imported U.S. oil would be processed in Mexican refineries over the course of the year.

"The Mexican crude we would no longer be processing, obviously that would be destined for export in markets where it has higher value, where it can be processed more efficiently," Carrera said.

In August, the United States government decided to allow sales of U.S. crude to Mexico for the first time, marking a major milestone in loosening a contentious ban on exporting domestic oil.

The crude swap would help refineries in Latin America's No. 2 economy produce more premium fuels. In exchange, U.S. refiners would continue to get Mexican heavy oil, a better match for them than the deluge of light oil coming from Texas and North Dakota.

Although limited in scope, the move toward freeing up trade will please U.S. oil producers such as Pioneer Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips, which say the restrictions force them to sell oil at below global market rates as shale oil boom created a glut of light crude.

It may also add momentum to efforts mostly by Republicans to repeal what they see as a relic of the 1970s Arab oil embargo era and fears of energy insecurity.