Mexico is at a pivotal moment as it gears up for an election next year amid a global rearrangement of supply chains. Ensuring reliable and affordable energy is key to the nation’s success, said participants at the Mexico Gas Summit in San Antonio, TX last week.

The country needs investment in its natural gas supply distribution system along with new pipelines, in addition to major power grid updates, new transmission lines and power generation projects.

“The first bottleneck is the distribution of electricity and transmission and that is a couple of years away,” said Grupo Alfa SAB de CV’s vice president for energy Rodolfo Gamboa. This “has to be resolved,” the executive from one of Mexico’s major manufacturing conglomerates...