Underground Construction - January 2019 - 22

North American Pipeline Construction Outlook
origination points near Crane
and Gardendale/Three Rivers in
West Texas and an offtake point
in Brownsville, Texas. Privately held Jupiter said it also is
constructing a crude upgrading,
processing and export terminal
capable of loading VLCCs in the
Port of Brownsville.
The Permian pipeline shortage
is not limited to crude oil production, however. With associated
gas accounting for about a third
of the Permian output and regulations limiting the amount of
gas that can be flared, natural gas
pipeline constraints have also put
a ceiling on oil production while
pushing gas prices in West Texas
down to the lowest of any major
U.S. hub.
Fortunately, Mexico is providing a growing export market

22

JANUARY 2019 | UConOnline.com

for piped gas from Texas, as its
southern neighbor has been aggressively expanding its natural
gas infrastructure.

Mexico
In 2012, according to Sener, the
Mexican ministry of energy,
there were 7,050 miles (11,347
km) of gas pipelines in Mexico,
of which 5,665 miles (9,118 km)
were operated by Pemex. Since
then, 1,496 miles (2,410 km) of
gas pipelines have been added to
the national grid, and that total
is expected to reach 5,420 miles
(8,722 km) by the end of 2019.
The 13 existing natural gas interconnections from the United
States have an import capacity of about 4.2 Bcf/d, according to the International Energy
Agency (EIA), with four of them

interconnected to the Integrated National Transportation and
Storage System: El Hueco, Cuidad
Mier, Reynosa and Argüelles. By
the end of this year, five additional interconnections are expected
to start operations.
A number of important gas
pipelines from Texas and within
Mexico have come on line over
the past two years, including Enbridge's Valley Crossing Pipeline,
a 168-mile system that added 2.6
Bcf/d of capacity when it entered
service in October, and TransCanada's 348-mile, 670 MMcf/d
El Encino-Topolobampo Pipeline,
which began service in June.
TransCanada has two more
pipelines with expected completion this year: the 178-mile
(287 km) Tuxpan-Tula, a $700
million project with a capacity of

886 MMcf/d, and the Tula-Villa de Reyes, a 36-inch, 260-mile
(420 km) pipeline, supported by a
25-year service contract with the
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico's state-owned
power company. [For an in-depth
review of projects in Mexico, see
the Energy Web Atlas white paper, "Mexico's Infrastructure Expansion and Five-year Plan."]

Canada
Canada began 2018 with about
42,000 miles (67,706 km) in
service and added just over 200
miles (325 km) through November, but if all of the projects that
are already approved or under
review were to be completed, the
country's total mileage would
grow by more than 8%. According to Canada's National Energy
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Underground Construction - January 2019

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