Economic analysts, Mexican President Andrés López Obrador and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris have all said that liquefied natural gas (LNG) could fuel an industrial boom in southern Mexico and Central America and lead to prosperity.

Central America, with its population of some 44 million, has four natural gas projects, each valued at some $1 billion, to build regasification units in order to fuel combined-cycle plants. 

Mexico meanwhile plans to extend a pipeline from the port of Coatzacoalcos in the state of  Veracruz across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest strip of land in the country between the Atlantic and Pacific. From there the gas can be liquefied for export to Asia. Along the isthmus, López Obrador has said that the gas will be used to fuel factories in...