Mexico building 500 mile ‘submarine’ gas pipeline from South Texas

Total value of Mexico energy projects nearly $10 billion

The Mexican government has announced significant expansion plans for electricity and natural gas infrastructure projects, including a gas pipeline under the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to the port of Veracruz.

Mexico’s projected natural gas pipeline network, 2020.

The Federal Electricity Commission said Monday that the costliest project would be the 500-mile underwater pipeline for carrying natural gas from South Texas. The pipeline is intended to go into operation in June 2018.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the $3.1 billion, 800-kilometer (500-mile)  underwater line from Brownsville, Texas to the Mexican Gulf port of Tuxpan will transport 2.6 billion cubic feet a day of gas. The pipeline will supply CFE power plants in the Gulf Coast states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz, among other regions.

The pipeline to begin operation in mid-2018. The contract is expected to be awarded in December.

Another pipeline from Nueces to Brownsville in southeastern Texas, requiring investment of $1.55 billion, will connect to the “submarine” line.

The projects will add around 2,300 kilometers to the country’s gas pipeline network, 1,442 megawatts of electricity generating capacity, and more than 3,000 kilometers in transmission and distribution lines, CFE Chief Executive Enrique Ochoa told the WSJ at an event.

Officials hope that facilitating the importation of cheap natural gas will help lower Mexico’s electricity rates.

Other projects include power plants, electricity distribution, transmission lines and electrical substations.

Mexico passed a broad overhaul of its energy sector last year aimed in part at attracting more investment to electricity and petroleum.

With files from the Canadian Press.