Tentative talks involving US shale gas producers and Mexico’s energy department could see one or more Mexican liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facilities converted into export terminals, according to Bloomberg.
Although just exploratory at the moment, the idea is for a pipeline to be built that would take the shale gas from US fields in west Texas to one or more terminals on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
That would be the departure point for tankers delivering US gas to their biggest markets in east Asia – China, Japan and South Korea.
In theory this would give the gas producers a cheaper and quicker alternative to shipping through the Panama Canal.
While the likely capital cost of such a pipeline could be a deterrent it would be easier to build in Mexico than in any potential US alternatives in Oregon, Washington or California where regulations are stricter.
