UPDATE 1-Chinese banks providing financing for Mexican refinery -ambassador

Chinese banks are providing $600 million in financing for the construction of a new oil refinery at the Mexican port of Dos Bocas in the southeastern state of Tabasco, China's ambassador to Mexico said on Monday.

Ambassador Zhu Qingqiao told reporters that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bank of China were participating in financing for the refinery, one of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's flagship infrastructure projects. It was unclear what kind of financing the banks would provide for the project, which the government says will be built for $8 billion. That price tag has been questioned as too optimistic by critics of the project.

A spokesman for Mexico's energy ministry said funds for the project would come from the federal government. Lopez Obrador has said the Dos Bocas refinery will help Mexico wean itself off its growing reliance on fuel imports, the vast majority of which comes from U.S. refiners.

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