Centam refinery plan still on table, says Mexico

MEXICO CITY, July 3 (Reuters) - A plan to build a new oil refinery in Central America as part of a regional energy integration project is still on the table, despite delays, Mexican Energy Minister Georgina Kessel said on Thursday.

Kessel said Mexico still had a pledge to supply the planned refinery, which would take several years to build, with crude oil for a period of eight years.

"It's in the process of being tendered. There is something of a delay because the potential participants in the refinery have asked us for a bit more time to analyze certain details," Kessel told Reuters in an interview. "(But) it is still on the table."

The deadline for offers to build the refinery has been repeatedly postponed as countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Panama compete over which will be home to the new plant.

With a proposed capacity of up to 350,000 barrels per day of oil, the plant would dwarf the region's smaller refineries, which mainly process lighter South American oil.

Companies that have shown interest in the refinery include Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BP Plc (BP.L), Chevron (CVX.N), Valero Energy (VLO.N) and Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N).

Panama is looking at independently building its own refinery near its border with Costa Rica to produce fuel for both Central America and the United States.

Central American leaders met in Mexico last month to discuss the energy project but did not reveal any progress in talks at a news conference and instead focused on development issues like funding housing projects in the region.

The energy project would also create an integrated electrical grid and run a natural gas pipeline down the Pacific coast to help ease sometimes chronic energy shortages in Central America. (Reporting by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)