A consortium including an energy company controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim won a contract to build a 230 km (143 mile) pipeline to supply gas to central, northern and western Mexico, the state power company said on Thursday.
The consortium, which consisted of Slim’s Carso Energy and U.S. companies Energy Transfer Partners and MasTec Inc, presented the lowest bid of $767 million for the work.
That bid was significantly below the $1.365 billion budgeted for the project by Mexico’s state power company CFE.
The Waha-Presidio pipeline will run through Texas and connect with a pipeline in Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state, the CFE said in a statement.
Last year, CFE announced various infrastructure projects near Mexico’s northern border with the United States that are part of the company’s aim to boost U.S. natural gas imports and help lower electricity rates via cheaper inputs and more modern power infrastructure.
Slim’s conglomerate Grupo Carso makes most of its revenue from its retail and real estate businesses but in recent years it has been boosting its energy unit, which includes drilling and energy services.
Mexico last year finalized a sweeping energy reform that ended decades-long oil and power monopolies. (Reporting by Elinor Comlay)
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