AMLO Looking to Build Gas Pipeline in the Isthmus

President López Obrador revealed his plans to build a gas pipeline in the Tehuantepec Isthmus aiming to transport regional excesses of natural gas.

Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER) would be in charge of the pipeline´s construction, reported the  president. The excess of gas originated with a series of contracts made during the past administration and were aimed at providing for the construction of twelve thermoelectric plants that were never  built. “We need to build the pipeline,” commented López Obrador, “since contracts were made and now we have 40 percent extra gas than what we need.”

President López Obrador will be traveling to Veracruz to meet with governor Cuiltáhuac García to discuss possible locations for the pipeline, intended to supply up to ten industrial parks , as well as domestic users. He will be visiting the Coatzacoalcos port and Salina Cruz in Oaxaca, to inspect the terminal end of the project.

The project aims to build a 300 kilometer extension pipeline along the isthmus, to begin in Coatzacoalcos and end in Salina Cruz, in addition to a second section stretching all the way to Palenque, Chiapas. The government has promised  municipalities it will fix every kilometer of road affected by pipeline construction, specifically those municipalities where natural gas is used for domestic use. The president said that the federal government was already in talks with several municipal governments in order to build the necessary infrastructure to make the domestic use a serious market for natural gas.  

Other beneficiaries from the construction of the pipeline include power plants, the south Veracruz petrochemical, and businesses in the region who have claimed the chemical industry is on halt due to shortages in the distribution of natural gas. Last year, Minister of Energy Rocío Nahle revealed plans and an investment of over MX$9 billion, to come from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), for a gas liquefaction plant, whose production will primarily benefit industries in Coatzacoalcos.