Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said a natural gas pipeline connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is set to go ahead. The 320 MMcf/d Jaltipán-Salina Cruz pipeline would cross the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest strip of land in Mexico, between the two coasts.

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“A gas pipeline in the isthmus is planned to transport gas,” Lopéz Obrador, aka AMLO, said during a press conference last week. “We need to do this because we have excess natural gas that is 40% more than we need.” 

The president was referring to the controversy over natural contracts signed under the previous administration of Enrique Peña Nieto between pipeline developers and Mexican utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). 

AMLO said the natural gas would be for industrial...