Database / Mexico / 2025

SENER CCUS Legal Framework & CCS Cluster Strategy (2025)

Strategic Active Verified

Mexico CCUS runs on revival momentum: a 2010-2018 programme (storage atlas in the North American atlas, CCUS-TRM roadmap with UNAM/IPN, Poza Rica capture plus Brillante EOR pilots, INEEL centre of excellence, World Bank support) paused with the 2018 presidency change, survived via the MeCCS virtual platform (2021), and restarted under President Sheinbaum — physicist, IPCC AR4/SR1.5 co-author — through the May 8, 2025 Carbon Visions MX event at UNAM where SENER (DG Adrián Ruiz) set the 2025 direction: 35% by 2030 needs CCUS, with a legal framework plus CCS clusters by 2027, R&D strengthening, ETS-mobilised finance, and international cooperation. Industry shows up: PEMEX (CO2-EOR interest, gas-plant CCS pilots, CCS-as-service ambition), CEMEX (net zero 2050, EU Innovation Fund cement plant, Knoxville test facility via US DOE), Ternium (green steel market). Direction set, statute pending — the honest status of a restart year.

National Governance Context

Mexico Overview

Aggregate National Maturity Index (Peak Strength)

Governed Policies

Identified Projects

Operational Cap 0.0 Mtpa

Under Construction Cap 0.0 Mtpa

Planned Cap 0.0 Mtpa

Related Policy Network

Directly Linked Assets

Dos Bocas refinery

Capture — 0 Mtpa

Policy Classification

FSRTM 5.0

Economic

ETS-mobilised finance named as the funding route with CEMEX and Ternium industrial pull — direction without disbursement so far.

Statutory

A promised legal framework with 2027 cluster targets under a scientifically credible presidency — the most advanced pre-statute position in Latin America.

Market

PEMEX pilots with CCS-as-service ambition beside CEMEX and Ternium demand form a state-plus-industry market shape awaiting its statute.

Strategic

Restart from a real 2010-18 legacy (atlas, TRM, pilots, INEEL, trained cohorts) via MeCCS continuity — revival with institutional memory, not a false dawn.

Technical

The North American atlas storage assessment with SENER/CFE national-regional evaluation gives revival MRV a surveyed geological base.

Strategic Impact Analysis

Economic Impact

ETS-mobilised finance named as the funding route avoids inventing a subsidy scheme from scratch, while PEMEX/CFE balance sheets offer state-vehicle delivery if the framework lands.

Technical Impact

The 2010-18 legacy (atlas, TRM, three critical studies, Poza Rica/Brillante pilot designs) means revival starts from surveyed geology and trained people, not zero.

Environmental Impact

Sheinbaum scientific credibility plus UNAM hosting frames the restart inside evidence culture — the process legitimacy thatEl Chichón-era oil politics never had.

Technical Metadata

Lead Institution SENER

Release Date 2025-05-15

Policy Tags

Carbon Visions MX SENER direction 35% 2030 clusters by 2027 PEMEX pilots MeCCS continuity

Legal Weight Executive Order/Framework

Original Document

Last Intelligence Audit 2026-09-09