North Baja Gas Pipeline
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North Baja Gas Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline running from Arizona to California. It crosses the Mexican border and becomes the Rosarito Gas Pipeline.[1]
Location
The pipeline runs from Ehrenberg, Arizona to Ogilby, California.
Project details
- Operator:
- Owner: North Baja Pipeline LLC[2]
- Parent company: TC Energy[2]
- Current capacity:
- Length: 80 miles
- Status: Operating[4]
- Start year: 2002[4]
- Associated infrastructure: Rosarito Gas Pipeline
Background
The North Baja Pipeline consists of 80 miles of natural gas pipeline in the U.S. owned by North Baja Pipelines LLC (which is in turn owned by TC PipeLines, LP, a master limited partnership). It connects to 140 miles of pipeline in Mexico owned by Sempra Energy International, called the Rosarito Gas Pipeline.
There is no co-ownership of the U.S. or Mexican portions of the system, but TC PipeLines, LP and Sempra Energy International have an agreement that defines how the pipeline is operated. The system serves growing energy demand in Baja California, Mexico, and portions of Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego counties in California.
Service began on 1 September 2002, with an initial capacity of 200 million cubic feet per day. Completion of the pipeline's 21,000-horsepower compressor station in December of 2002 brought the pipeline's east-to-west capacity to 500 million cubic feet a day in December 2002. Completion of Expansion facilities in April 2008 allowed for reverse flow on the pipeline and for the importation of LNG-sourced gas into the U.S. at Ogilby, California, on the North Baja system. The pipeline begins at an interconnection with El Paso Natural Gas Co. near Ehrenberg, Arizona, traverses southeastern California, crosses the border and heads west across northern Baja California, Mexico, terminating at an interconnection with the Transportadora de Gas Natural (TGN) Pipeline which runs from an interconnect with SDG&E at the US/Mexico border south of San Diego to the Presidente Juarez Power plant in Rosarito, Baja California. Rosarito Gas Pipeline includes a lateral that connects to the Costa Azul LNG terminal. [1]
Expansion projects
North Baja XPress Project (NBXP)
- Operator:
- Owner: North Baja Pipeline LLC[5]
- Parent company: TC Energy[5]
- Current capacity: 495 MMcf/d[4]
- Alternatively reported as 450 MMcf/d[6]
- Length: 0 new mi[6]
- Status: Operating[4]
- Cost: US$127.2 million[4]
- Start year: 2023[4]
- Originally 2022[6]
According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), the expansion is a capacity expansion only, with no additional pipeline length. It will deliver feedstock to the Energia Costa Azul LNG export plant.[6] According to the North Baja website, "The proposed North Baja XPress (NBXP) project would increase the transportation capacity on the North Baja Pipeline System, with all upgrades occurring on property and within facilities currently owned or operated by North Baja Pipeline LLC."[5] The expansion project application was submitted in 2019 to FERC.
As of April 2022, the project had been approved by FERC, but construction had not yet begun.[6]
In May 2023, FERC gave TC Energy permission to put the expansion into service, and it is presumed to be operating. The additional capacity will supply more US fossil gas to Mexico, including the Costa Azul LNG Terminal in Mexico under construction at the time.[4]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Pipeline Facts" TransCanada accessed January 2018 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "source1" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 "TC Energy — North Baja Pipeline System". www.tcenergy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "About North Baja Pipeline LLC" TransCanada accessed January 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "FERC approves TC Energy's US-Mexico North Baja natural-gas pipe expansion". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "TC Energy — North Baja XPress Project". www.tcenergy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Natural Gas Data, Pipeline Projects Energy Information Agency, accessed July 21, 2020
