Mexican state oil company Pemex has signed an agreement with a consortium led by Brazil’s Braskem to supply raw materials for a proposed petrochemicals plant in Mexico.

According to the agreement, Pemex will supply 66,000 barrels of ethane a day to the proposed Ethylene 21 project to be built in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

The project includes building a one-million-tons-a-year ethylene cracker on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and the construction and operation polymerisation of integrated units for the production of polyethylene.

Braskem has partnered with privately held Mexican petrochemicals firm Grupo IDESA to build the proposed cracker.

The project is expected to begin operations by 2015, Pemex said.