Mexico announces plans for 5 new natural gas pipelines

Mexican authorities said here Tuesday they would hold auctions in the near future for five new natural gas pipelines, which are to be built at a cost of $2.25 billion. The CEO of Comision Federal de Electricidad, or CFE, Enrique Ochoa, said in a statement that the state-owned electric utility and the Energy Secretariat would provide details on the bidding processes in the coming days. Ochoa said at an energy and gas forum at the CFE's Technological Museum that the first gas pipeline would cost around $400 million and run from Ojinaga to El Encino in the northern state of Chihuahua. The second conduit will stretch from El Encino to the Laguna zone in the state of Durango, while the third will transport gas from Waha, Texas, to Samalayuca, Chihuahua. The fourth gas pipeline will run from Waha to Ojinaga and the fifth will stretch from Ehrenberg, Arizona, to San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico. Mexico is looking to build more pipelines to boost the "reliability of the country's natural gas transport system," Ochoa said. Deputy Electricity Secretary Cesar Hernandez said the CFE has experience working with the private sector on natural gas transport infrastructure projects, which he added would give Mexicans access to that fuel "at competitive prices." Under the energy sector overhaul it adopted last December, Mexico aims to boost natural gas output from a current level of 5.7 billion cubic feet per day to 8 billion cfd by 2018 and to more than 10.4 billion cfd by 2025. That higher production would enable the Aztec nation to be an exporter as opposed to an importer of natural gas.