Mexico

Energy trade between the United States and Mexico continues to grow while the value of U.S. exports has surpassed the value of what it imports from Mexico, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Meanwhile, exports of U.S. natural gas to Mexico so far this year have exceeded 4.2 Bcf/d, the agency said Thursday.

Mexico’s Comision Reguladora de Energia (CRE) on Feb. 2 launched the first phase of the program to have state oil company Pemex release 70% of its natural gas supply contracts.

Natural gas imported from the United States fills most of the chapters in Mexico’s power generation story, but a good part of that book is also devoted to renewable energy.

On the journey to reform Mexico’s natural gas markets, participants can’t always see where they’re going. While optimism for robust transparency and trading prevails, there are devils in the details, said speakers at a recent industry conference in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, MX.

Mexican energy regulatory authorities have launched the program for state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to surrender natural gas supply contracts amounting to 70% of its total sales volume. The program, begun late last week, will help private-sector companies gain market share and begin competing with Pemex.

Mexico’s energy reforms are a nationwide affair, but much of the action — and potential conflict — will happen at the state and municipal level, where the drill bits and pipelines meet the ground, speakers said Wednesday at a conference in Monterrey, the capital of northeastern state Nuevo León.

Pomelo Connector LLC has filed at FERC for permission to construct a 14-mile pipeline in Texas connecting Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) with the proposed Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC in support of a system that would enable export of U.S. natural gas to Mexico.