US Approves Natural Gas Pipeline To Mexico

U.S. energy regulators on Thursday approved a plan by a unit of Energy Transfers Partners LP to build a natural gas pipeline from Texas to Mexico.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a presidential permit to Energy Transfer’s Houston Pipe Line Co, which will allow the company to build the pipeline across the federal border.

This is one of several projects proposed by energy companies in the United States to export some of the nation’s gas supplies from shale fields to Mexico and other nations.

Officials at Energy Transfer were not immediately available for comment.

In the order, FERC said Houston Pipe Line filed in October 2013 to build and operate the pipeline to export or import of gas at the international boundary between Hidalgo County in Texas and the city of Reynosa in Tamaulipas state in Mexico.

Houston Pipe Line wants to build a 23-mile (37-km) extension of its existing Edinburg Lateral that will cross the border under the Rio Grande River and will have a 24-inch (61-centimeter) diameter, according to the order.

The pipeline will have a design capacity of approximately 140 million cubic feet per day, according to the order.

The pipeline will connect into the Pemex Pipeline system on the Mexican side of the border and will primarily supply mostly Texas-sourced gas to fuel gas-fired power plants and potential industrial customers in northern Mexico, according to the order.

Houston Pipe Line owns and operates an intrastate gas pipeline system, including over 3,900 miles (6,276 km) of pipeline in Texas. The company gathers, transports, stores, purchases, and sells gas produced in Texas. It also participates in some interstate transactions.

– See more at: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/132191/US_Approves_Energy_Transfer_Plan_For_Natural_Gas_Pipeline_To_Mexico?rss=true#sthash.ONPJogQH.dpuf

One Comment on "US Approves Natural Gas Pipeline To Mexico"

rockman on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 3:03 am 



Nothing new in this story: When the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it would issue a permit to export liquified natural gas to new markets from a facility in Texas recently, the news was greeted as a game changer. Opening international markets could drive the price of natural gas up domestically, spur a new rush to drill for gas, and stimulate some parts of the economy while disrupting others.

Despite all that excitement, a second, quieter, natural gas export boom is already taking place right under our noses. Mexico is importing a record amount of natural gas to create electricity and feed its growing industrial base. Eighty percent of all the gas Mexico imports comes from the United States, and 60 percent comes directly from pipelines in Texas.

And there’s a good reason why so much coverage is given lately to the relatively small volume of LNG we export compared to pipeline exports: The reason the U.S. can export via pipeline to Mexico without much fanfare has to do with federal regulations. Those require a special permit from the DOE to export LNG to non-free trade partners. Exporting LNG opens up overseas markets, something that would have a more profound impact on prices at home, so the DOE has issued only two such permits to date

Along the Mexican and Canadian borders, however, pipelines are built under a different regulatory process. And in South Texas, they can’t seem to build them fast enough.