Mexico’s natural gas market continued to grow in 2020 despite the chaos wrought by Covid-19 and unease around the government’s state-centric energy policies, underscoring the molecule’s increasing importance to the local economy.

Mexico natural gas balance

Looking back, NGI’s Mexico GPI forecasts last year may have been wildly optimistic. The year started innocently enough, but it took a sharp detour in the spring. 

In January, Mexico’s national pipeline operator Centro Nacional de Control del Gas Natural (Cenagas) received 11 bids for natural gas supply to ensure the Sistrangas pipeline system maintained system balance, a first of its kind auction under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration, as well as a boost for competition.

Shortly after that, industry executives...