Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline LLC (KMTP) has asked FERC for authorization to increase the design capacity of its U.S.-Mexico border facilities from 425 MMcf/d to 700 MMcf/d.

“In recent years, KMTP has implemented a series of operational changes to accommodate changing gas flows on its system. These operational changes occurred on the portion of the KMTP intrastate pipeline system that is upstream of the cross border facilities and were required to accommodate the transportation of increased production from the Eagle Ford Shale play,” the pipeline told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“As a result…KMTP expects to have the ability to move up to 700 MMcf/d through the cross-border facilities…KMTP proposes no construction or modifications to its previously-approved border crossing facilities.”

The facilities interconnect with KMTP’s intrastate pipeline in Texas and extend 878 feet to the border at the midpoint of the Rio Grande River and then connect with affiliate Kinder Morgan Gas Natural de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., which transports gas from the border to the Monterey area.

The current shipper customer of Kinder Morgan Mexico is Mexico’s Pemex-Gas Y Petroquimica Basica (Pemex), which buys gas at the U.S.-Mexico border from its affiliate MGI Supply Ltd. to serve customers in the Monterrey area and to support its system throughout northeastern Mexico. In the United States, MGI Supply either purchases gas from KMTP at the border or ships gas to the border on KMTP’s intrastate system.

The pipeline said the change would align its authorizations with the actual capabilities of its cross border facilities after upstream modifications are completed. It would allow KMTP to continue to serve Pemex, as well as other end-users in the Monterey, Mexico, area that are seeking KMTP transportation service.

The request comes at a time when pipeline gas exports to Mexico are expected to increase as supply in the U.S. booms thanks to shale plays and Mexico concentrates its energy development efforts mostly on oil.

“…[W]e view meaningful Eagle Ford production in Mexico as being likely up to three years into the future,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a recent note (see Daily GPI, Feb. 11). “However, eventually domestic shale gas production could limit or even reverse the dependency on pipeline imports from the United States.”

Kinder Morgan Inc. and other pipeline companies have multiple projects planned to serve gas demand in Mexico. Late last month, Kinder Morgan unit Sierrita Gas Pipeline LLC applied at FERC for authorization to build a pipeline (formerly known as the Sasabe Pipeline project) to serve the power generation market in northern Mexico (see Daily GPI, Feb. 26).

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