Energia Mayakan Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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The Energia Mayakan Pipeline is an operating natural gas pipeline in Mexico.

Location

The pipeline runs from the Pemex natural gas processing center in Nuevo Pemex (Tabasco state) to power plants in Mérida and Valladolid (Yucatan state), passing en route through the Macuspana CS1 station near Ciudad Pemex, Tabasco and the CS2 compression station near Champoton, Campeche. The proposed expansion would continue the pipeline from Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico to Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

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Project Details

• Operator: Engie
• Parent Company: Engie (67.5%), GE Capital and Mexico Infrastructure Partners (EXI CKD) (32.5%)
• Capacity: 250 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 775 km
• Diameter: 16 inches, 24 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1999
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Mérida III power station
  • Mérida 4 power station
  • Valladolid III power station
  • Felipe Carrillo Puerto power station

Background

The pipeline is owned and operated by Engie, in partnership with GE Capital and the specialist energy investment fund EXI CKD. The original pipeline measured 700 km (435 miles) and cost US$266 million to develop. Between 2015 and 2016, in response to growing natural gas demand on the Yucatán Peninsula, the company invested US$154 million to extend the pipeline an additional 75 km from its original western terminus in Macuspana (near Ciudad Pemex) to the Nuevo Pemex natural gas processing plant.

Power plants supplied by the Energía Mayakan pipeline include the Mérida II, Mérida III and CCC Mérida power stations in Mérida, and the Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Valladolid III, and CCC Riviera Maya (Valladolid) power stations in Valladolid.

Expansion Location

Two proposed expansions to the Energía Mayakan pipeline have been proposed. The first, running parallel to the original 700-kilometer section of pipeline between Macuspana and Valladolid, would more than double the original pipeline's capacity. The second (shown in the map below) would extend the pipeline 99 miles from Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico to Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

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Capacity Expansion Project

• Parent Company: Engie (67.5%), GE Capital and Mexico Infrastructure Partners (EXI CKD) (32.5%)
• Proposed Capacity: 317 million cubic feet per day
• Proposed Length: 700 km
• Status: Construction
• Start year: 2026
• Cost: US$2 billion

Cancún Extension Project

• Parent Company: Engie (67.5%), GE Capital and Mexico Infrastructure Partners (EXI CKD) (32.5%)
• Proposed Capacity: 100 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 159 kilometers
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2026

Expansion Background

The proposed capacity expansion phase (sometimes referred to as Mayakan expansion Phase II or Cuxtal-Mayakan Phase III), would increase capacity of both pipelines to 550 mmcf/d. The Phase II expansion was originally scheduled for completion by 2022.

The proposed US$300 million expansion from Valladolid to Cancún (also known as Cuxtal-Mayakan Phase II), would extend the pipeline by 99 miles (159 km) from its original eastern terminus into the province of Quintana Roo. The Cancún expansion, originally scheduled for completion by 2020, was to increase the transport capacity of the Energía Mayakan pipeline and the adjacent Cuxtal Gas Pipeline to 350 mmcf/d.

As of July 2022, there had been no further development of either expansion plan. However, Engie's 2021 Annual Financial Report, together with a May 2022 interview with Engie's COO Ana Laura Ludlow, confirmed that the company remained committed to expanding the Mayakan pipeline, pending approval from Mexico's CFE (Mexico's federal electricity commission).

Capacity Expansion

Between November 2022 and January 2023, Engie and CFE confirmed plans to expand the capacity of the existing Mayakan pipeline to take advantage of interconnection potential with the new Southeast Gateway Gas Pipeline and ensure sufficient gas supply to customers throughout the Yucatán, including the soon-to-be-completed Mérida and Valladolid power stations.

Increased capacity along the existing 780-kilometer stretch between Nuevo Pemex and Valladolid was to be achieved by construction of a supplemental pipeline running parallel to the existing one. CFE stated that the Mérida and Valladolid power stations would begin receiving gas from the expanded pipeline by May 2025, followed by all other power plants in the region by December 2026. CFE also confimed that the pipeline extension to Cancún would happen "in the medium term," but without specifying a date. None of the announcements specified the exact increase in capacity associated with the proposed expansions.

In March 2024, CFE and Engie signed an agreement for the US$2 billion expansion. The expansion was to include the construction of 700 km of new pipeline designed to increase transport capacity between Macuspana/Ciudad Pemex and Valladolid from 250 MMcf/d to 567 MMcf/d. An Engie official interviewed by Bloomberg estimated that the project would be completed by the end of 2026.

In June 2024, CFE and Engie subsidiary Energía Mayakan announced that construction of the 700 km Phase II pipeline expansion had begun.

Cancún Extension

As recently as January 2023, multiple sources reported that the extension of the pipeline to Cancún would take place. However, as of August 2024, it was unclear that any progress had been made on the Cancún extension.