Sempra Energy International (SRI) reported Wednesday it received an environmental permit for its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Baja California, Mexico, from Mexico’s national environmental agency.

This was the first environmental and risk-assessment permit issued for an LNG project in Baja California, and the first permit awarded for an LNG facility on the entire Pacific Coast, said SRI President Darcel Hulse. He noted Sempra Energy expects “in the near future” to receive two other key permits, an operating permit from Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and a local land-use permit from the City of Ensenada, Mexico.

San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy is seeking to build the LNG terminal and associated facilities at a site in Costa Azul, along the Pacific Coast about 14 miles north of Ensenada, Baja California. The proposed $600 million facilities, which are targeted for in-service in 2006, would have the capability to import and process 1 Bcf/d of gas for expanding markets in northern Mexico and southern California.

As a tie-in to the project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last summer approved the U.S. leg of a 215-mile, 500 MMcf/d pipeline (North Baja Pipeline) to serve gas distributors, power plants and other eventual LNG terminals in the region.

“LNG will be a critical part of the energy-supply mix in North America over the next decade, especially in Baja California, which is not linked to mainland Mexico and currently relies on the pipelines in the western United States for all of its natural gas,” said Donald E. Felsinger, group president of Sempra Energy Global Enterprises, which oversees SRI.

Energy demand in Baja California is projected to grow at 7% to 10% annually over the next decade, which means that energy supplies must double to keep up with demand, according to Mexico’s secretary of energy.

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