Bringing petroleum into Mexico has not proven to be as easy as it was expected to be when the country began deregulating its energy industry a few years ago.

Several years into the process, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-by-rail import volumes are on the rise, but they have not exploded. Terminal permitting and build-outs have been slow and the whole deregulation process has been shadowed recently by worries that the 2018 election could bring a rollback.

Mexico’s LPG market has a unique set of fundamentals that are worth reviewing at year’s end.

Cyclical demand for propane

Mexico’s market for imported propane is cyclical, with the strongest volumes moved in the April-to-Se...