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The Morelos Gas Pipeline is a gas pipeline running through the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla and Morelos, Mexico.[1]
Location
The pipeline starts at a junction with Mexico's national gas pipeline system near Tlaxco municipality, Tlaxcala and runs to the Centro Morelos power station in Huexca, Morelos, Mexico.[2]
Project Details
- Operator: Gasoducto de Morelos, S.A.P.I. de C.V.[3]
- Owner: Macquarie[1][4][5]
- Parent company: Macquarie Group Limited[1][4][5]
- Capacity: 337 MMcf/d[1][2]
- Length: 172 km[1]
- Diameter: 30 inches[1][2]
- Cost: US $700 million[6]
- Status: Operating
- Start Year: 2016[7]
- Financing:
Background
The Morelos pipeline is part of the US $700 million Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM), an integrated power project that also comprises the Centro Morelos combined cycle power plant and related infrastructure, including a 10-kilometer aqueduct and 20 kilometers of electrical lines connecting the power plant to the Yautepec sub-station.
Designed to supply 9.54 million cubic meters per day (337 MMcf/d) of natural gas to the power plant[8], the Morelos pipeline obtained its initial contract to operate in November 2011[9] and received all necessary permits from the Mexican government in September 2012[8], though construction did not begin until 2014 due to persistent local opposition.[6] The pipeline was completed in December 2015[10] and ready for commercial operation in April 2016[2][7][9], but for the next few years it remained idle due to continued opposition from citizens' groups who warned of the health, environmental and seismic dangers posed by the project.[11]
In November 2020, Mexico's federal electricity commission CFE announced that it would resume construction on the stalled project.[12] Despite sustained local protests, CFE maintained that there was no longer any legal impediment or judicial order preventing the plant and the pipeline from operating.[12] The time required for remaining work on the project was estimated at 10 to 15 days.[12] Opponents continued to protest outside the plant throughout December 2020.[13]
As of February 2021, following a period of testing and with the support of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the pipeline and its associated power plant appeared poised to begin commercial operations.[14][15]
Activists continued to speak out against the pipeline throughout 2021.[16][17][18][19]
Ownership
The pipeline was originally a 50-50 joint venture between the Spanish companies Elecnor and Enagás, while the power plant project was awarded to Spanish energy company Abengoa.[20]
In late 2021, the Australia-based multinational Macquarie Group Limited acquired the pipeline project from Elecnor and Enagás for the sum of US$173.8 million.[4][5]
Opposition
The pipeline project has provoked strong local resistance since its inception. Residents along the pipeline's route in the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Morelos have opposed the project for a variety of reasons, including the pipeline's proximity to the active Popocatépetl volcano, its potential to cause environmental damage, and its impact on the livelihood of local agricultural communities.[20][21] In February 2019 local activist Samir Flores Soberanes, who had led opposition to the PIM project for many years, was assassinated outside his home in Amilcingo, Morelos. The environmental group FPDTAMPT (Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y Agua Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala) has blamed the Mexican government for his killing.[22]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Gasoducto de Morelos". Gasoducto de Morelos. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "GASODUCTO DE MORELOS, S.A. P.I. DE C.V., Procedimiento de Temporada Abierta: Descripción del Sistema de Transporte (p3)" (PDF). Gasoducto de Morelos. April 11, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Aviso al Público en General y a los Usuarios del Sistema de Transporte Gasoducto de Morelos". Diario Oficial de la Federación. October 5, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Macquarie acquires Morelos gas pipeline in Mexico for €154 million". Cuatrecasas. December 22, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Macquarie's $173.8 Million Acquisition of Gasoducto de Morelos and Morelos O&M". Global Legal Chronicle. December 22, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Seleccionan a seis firmas para competir por gasoducto en México". América Economía. October 20, 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "¿Quiénes somos?". Gasoducto de Morelos. Retrieved 2023-08-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Otorgamiento de Permiso de Transporte de Gas Natural número G/292/TRA/2012". DOF - Diario Oficial de la Federación. September 10, 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 9.0 9.1 "México: ONG exige se aclare la posible participación de empresas españolas en el asesinato de Samir Flores". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. April 1, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Estatus de la Infraestructura de Gas Natural" (PDF). SENER (Secretaria de Energía de México). October 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Son 12 gasoductos que generan pérdidas multimillonarias a CFE". Contralínea. February 20, 2019.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Inicia CFE central de Huexca para culminar el gasoducto Morelos; no tocará río Cuautla - Puebla". La Jornada de Oriente. November 23, 2020.
- ↑ "Huexca, en alerta ante inicio de operaciones de termoeléctrica". La Jornada. December 21, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Gasoducto Morelos inicia pruebas de operación en zona eruptiva del Popocatépetl - Puebla". La Jornada de Oriente. February 8, 2021.
- ↑ "Proyecto Integral Morelos: un monstruo que apenas despierta". Proceso. February 23, 2021.
- ↑ "Socio-environmental impacts and violation of human rights in commercial relations between Spain and Mexico". Ecologistas en Accion. November 25, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Proyecto Integral Morelos: un monstruo que apenas despierta". www.proceso.com.mx (in spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ↑ Puebla, Norma Marcial | El Sol de. "Gasoducto Morelos: una historia de 11 años de lucha, represión y hasta un asesinato". El Sol de Puebla | Noticias Locales, Policiacas, sobre México, Puebla y el Mundo (in español). Retrieved 2021-12-17.
- ↑ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "México: "Es inexplicable la apuesta de López Obrador por los hidrocarburos" | DW | 11.08.2021". DW.COM (in español). Retrieved 2021-12-17.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Proyecto Integral Morelos 2019: el gasoducto de la discordia | Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla". BUAP (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla). Retrieved 2020-08-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Comunidades afectadas por gasoductos mantienen oposición legal". Pie de Página. August 30, 2019.
- ↑ "Detienen las protestas 4 mil mdp en Huexca". El Sol de Cuernavaca. January 13, 2020.
Related GEM.wiki articles
External resources
External articles
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