October 2022, Vol. 249, No. 10
Features
US Natural Gas Pipeline Exports to Mexico Reach Record High
(P&GJ) — Natural gas pipeline exports from West Texas to Mexico averaged 1.6 Bcf/d (45 MMcm/d) during May 2022 – the most pipeline exports from West Texas on record, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed.
Compared with 2021, U.S. pipeline exports from West Texas increased by 12% from January through May 2022, to average 1.4 Bcf/d (40 MMcm/d).
U.S. natural gas pipeline exports from West Texas have grown steadily in recent years, doubling from 0.6 Bcf/d (17 MMcm/d) in 2019 to 1.2 Bcf/d (34 MMcm/d) in 2021, as more connecting pipelines in Central and Southwest Mexico have been placed in service in the past three years.
Natural gas flows from the Permian natural gas production areas in West Texas to northwest, central, and southwest Mexico via the Chihuahua-to-Bajío corridor (including the Samalayuca-Sásabe pipeline system) and the Wahalajara system. The Wahalajara system connects the Waha Hub in West Texas to Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-most populous city.
In Mexico, the electric power sector and (to a slightly lesser degree) the industrial sector have been leading growth in natural gas consumption in recent years. Much of this growth in natural gas consumption has been met by growth in pipeline imports from the United States.
The availability of relatively inexpensive natural gas from the United States has shifted Mexico’s natural gas supply mix. The share of Mexico’s natural gas supply met by pipeline imports from the United States grew from 61% in 2019 to 72% in 2021.
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