Six more governors are scheduled to lobby for placement of the new Pemex refinery in their home states on Friday.

Four governors made their pitches to the forum on Wednesday, touting existing infrastructure, cost-benefit analyses and security guarantees.

President Calderon said last week that a final decision on the site of the new refinery will be announced by April 15.

Although speculation still centers on Tula, Hidalgo, and the state of Campeche as the likely choice, the governors of Michoacan and Tamaulipas also made attractive presentations to the panel of experts.

After Wednesday's hearings, all four governors joined in calling on the government to build more than one new refinery.

The current project is designed to have a refinery up and running within six years, with a $10 billion investment.

Nine of the 10 states are led by Institutional Revolutionary Party governors, while Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy is a member of the Democratic Revolution Party. The governors of the states of Tabasco, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tlaxcala and Veracruz will make their cases to the energy forum on Friday.

Copyright (c) 2009, The News, Mexico City. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.