(Reuters, 9.Jun.2018) — Howard Energy Partners told U.S. energy regulators that it began injecting natural gas into the Impulsora natural gas pipeline project from Texas to Mexico on May 30, according to a filing made available this week.
The Impulsora pipeline is part of the 190-mile (305-km)Nuevo Era system that will transport around 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas from the Eagle Ford shale region of Texas to Mexico to supply power plants in the Monterrey area.
One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.
There are already about 20 pipelines that can move gas from the United States to Mexico, including Impulsora, with a total capacity of around 10.9 bcfd, according to U.S. energy data.
Analysts have said that constraints on the Mexican side of the border have so far limited a big increase in U.S. pipeline exports.
Since the start of the year U.S. exports to Mexico have averaged 4.0 bcfd, up just a bit from the 3.9-bcfd average during the same period in 2017, according to Thomson Reuters data.
To quench its growing demand for gas, Mexican energy companies have bought more U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) than any other country since February 2016 when the first LNG export terminal opened in the lower 48 states at Cheniere Energy Inc’s Sabine Pass in Louisiana.
Mexico bought 50 cargoes of LNG totaling 167.8 billion cubic feet of gas from the United States, 18.8 percent of total U.S. LNG exports between February 2016 through the end of 2017.
Later this year, Enbridge Inc expects to finish its 2.6-bcfd Valley Crossing pipe and connect it in the Gulf of Mexico to the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline under construction by a joint venture between units of TransCanada Corp and Sempra Energy. It will be the biggest gas pipe between the two countries.
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