Mirage Energy Corp. has signed a $4 billion debt facility with the family office of Bluebell International to develop a natural gas project that would add cross-border capacity into Mexico and connect to the planned Permian Basin-to-Gulf Coast Whistler pipeline.

San Antonio, TX-based Mirage last year signed an interconnect agreement between subsidiary WPF Transmission and Whistler Pipeline LLC to provide Permian Basin gas producers further access to Mexican markets.

Whistler is to consist of 475 miles of 42-inch diameter pipeline to move 2 Bcf/d from the Waha hub in West Texas to the Agua Dulce hub in South Texas.

The interconnect would be at Agua Dulce and WPF’s planned 42-inch diameter Concho-Progreso cross-border pipeline to move gas south. It would then connect with Mexico’s Sistrangas national pipeline grid at the Estación 19 (Station 19) and Los Ramones interconnection points in northeastern Mexico.

The Concho pipe would also have an interconnect to a planned underground gas storage project at the depleted Brasil gas reservoir in northern Mexico, a first of its kind project also being developed by Mirage. The planned facility when fully developed is expected to be the largest gas storage facility in North America with the ability to hold 786 Bcf, giving Mexico six months of supply in the event of interruptions, according to Mirage.

Mexico relies on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) for system balancing. In March 2018, energy ministry Sener published a gas storage policy calling for 45 Bcf of strategic inventories to be operational by 2026. A storage construction site was nominated for the first 10 Bcf at the depleted Jaf dry gas field.

The new administration in Mexico, however, has not continued with the project.

“These projects are all fully integrated,” Mirage CEO Michael Ward told NGI’s Mexico GPI. “Each project complements the other, allowing us to deliver Permian Basin natural gas to the southern part of Mexico and all points along the way. This is a fabulous project for the country of Mexico to meet their natural gas needs and energy security as well as important for the U.S. and Texas energy industry.”

Mirage also plans an additional 48-inch diameter gas pipeline running from Reynosa, Mexico, on the Texas border, to Nuevo Pemex in the southeast, along what is called the Isthmus Corridor project, which would consist of a series of pipelines and storage facilities in Mexico connecting the Port of Pajaritos on the Gulf of Mexico to Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast.

“One of the biggest problems in oil and gas transportation,” Ward said, “is the logistical dilemma posed by supertankers that cannot fit through the Panama Canal, thereby reducing access to the Pacific Ocean or forcing them to take the hazardous and expensive journey around Cape Horn. The Isthmus project is a logical and far more economical alternative, and we are pleased that the family offices of Bluebell International have agreed to partner with us.”