Pemex to export crude oil to Swiss refinery

State-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said Monday it planned to export crude to Switzerland's Cressier refinery for six months starting in July.

After the "good acceptance" of the first shipment of Olmeca crude, Mexico's lightest grade of export petroleum, in February, PMI Comercio Internacional reached a supply agreement with the Creesier refinery, Pemex said in a statement.

Exports of Olmeca crude to Switzerland "will begin in July and continue for six months," Pemex said.

The supply agreement is part of a strategy to diversify markets, Pemex said.

The state-owned oil giant recently announced that it would export petroleum for the first time to a refinery in Hawaii, with the initial shipment going out during the first week of July.

Pemex exported an average of 1.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2013 to all its customers, generating revenues of $52.58 billion.

Pemex said in January that it planned to start exporting high-grade Olmeca crude oil to Europe.

Exports of Olmeca crude began in 1989 and went exclusively to refineries on the Gulf coast of the United States, with small but regular shipments also being sent to the Dominican Republic.