Lakach Gas Pipeline

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Lakach Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Mexico. The project was halted prior to 2013, but was again being explored in 2019. As of 2023, the project appeared to be cancelled.

Location

The pipeline would run in a loop from the offshore Lakach gas field in the Gulf of Mexico to an onshore collection station near Lerdo de Tejada, Veracruz. The Lakach field lies 131 km northwest of Coatzacoalos, Veracruz, and 55 km from the nearest point on the Veracruz coastline.

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Project Details

• Operator: Pemex
• Owner: Pemex
• Parent Company: Pemex
• Proposed capacity: 500 million cubic feet per day
• Length: 88 miles / 142 km
• Status: Cancelled
• Start Year:
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Lakach oil and gas field
  • Lakach FLNG terminal

Background

The pipeline would be owned and operated by Pemex and would be their first deepwater development project. Pemex is the sole operator of the Lakach gas field, which was first discovered in 2007. The pipeline project was approved in November 2007 as a part of a larger project to develop the newly discovered Lakach gas field. First production from the field was expected in the second half of 2015, with peak production in 2016. However, development of the Lakach gas field, including the pipeline project, was halted for budgetary reasons ahead of the 2013-2014 energy reform.

In July 2019, it was announced that development of the Lakach gas field was again being explored. Presumably this would include the construction of a pipeline. As of March 2020, Mexico's Opus Energy Group was reportedly proposing an investment of US$2 billion in developing the Lakach gas field, but as of July 2020, there had been no final decisions announced regarding the project.

In July 2022, New Fortress Energy (NFE) announced that it had signed a long-term partnership with Mexico's Pemex to jointly develop the Lakach gas field. Under terms of the agreement, Pemex would deliver gas to domestic markets in Mexico, and New Fortress would develop a floating LNG (FLNG) terminal from which it would export LNG to global markets. The impact of the NFE-Pemex agreement on the proposed Lakach Gas Pipeline was not immediately clear. However, as of July 2023 there had been no significant news of the pipeline project in more than four years, and given the ongoing development of the Lakach Field FLNG Terminal and the absence of specific mentions of the pipeline project in Pemex's July 2022 press release, it appeared likely that the pipeline had been cancelled.