Sierra Madre Gas Pipeline

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

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Sierra Madre Gas Pipeline, also known as the Saguaro Energía Gas Pipeline, is a proposed gas pipeline in Mexico.

Location

The proposed pipeline will run from the municipality of Guadalupe, Chihuahua on the US-Mexico border to the Saguaro Energía LNG Terminal in Puerto Libertad, Sonora state, Mexico.

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Project details

• Operator: Mexico Pacific Ltd, CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad)
• Owner: Mexico Pacific Ltd, CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad)
• Parent company: Q-LNG Holdings, LLC, AVAIO MPL Special, LP, DKRW Energy Partners, LLC, CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad)
• Capacity: 2800 MMcf/d
• Length: 800 km
• Diameter: 48 inches
• Status: Proposed
• Start year: 2028-2029
• Cost: US$14 billion to US$15 billion (LNG Terminal and pipeline combined)
• Financing:
• Associated infrastructure: Saguaro Energía LNG Terminal, Saguaro Connector Pipeline

Background

Between May and August 2023, multiple sources reported that Mexico Pacific Ltd — developer of the Saguaro Energía LNG Terminal in Puerto Libertad, Mexico — had reached an agreement with the Mexican government to develop a new gas pipeline to import fossil gas from Texas's Permian Basin to Mexico's Pacific coast via the states of Chihuahua and Sonora.

Details of the pipeline's exact route and development timeline remained sketchy, but Mexico Pacific Ltd stated in a press release that the parties had reached a "20-year agreement" under which fossil gas would be transported from the Permian Basin to the Saguaro LNG export terminal via "Mexico Pacific’s pipeline in the U.S. and... CFE’s pipelines in Mexico."

In November 2023, Mexico Pacific announced that it had awarded an EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contract for the pipeline to GDI Sicim Pipelines and Bonatti. Mexico Pacific's website described the project as an 800-kilometer, 48-inch pipeline with a capacity of up to 2.8 Bcf/d of fossil gas, crossing through 16 municipalities in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora.

Construction of the pipeline was expected to begin in 2024, with an estimated completion date of 2028 or 2029.

Connection with ONEOK's Saguaro Connector Pipeline at the US-Mexico Border

The Sierra Madre pipeline would be fed with fossil gas from Texas via the 155-mile, 48-inch Saguaro Connector Pipeline proposed on the US side of the border by Saguaro Connector Pipeline LLC (a subsidiary of Oklahoma-based ONEOK), together with a 1000-foot connector pipeline to be constructed across the Río Grande approximately 18 miles southwest of Sierra Blanca in Hudspeth County, Texas. In a January 2023 filing with the US Dept of Energy, ONEOK stated that its Saguaro Connector Pipeline would connect at the border to "NewCo Mexico Pipeline, which has a planned delivery to a natural gas export facility under development on the West Coast of Mexico." A protest motion filed by the Sierra Club in April 2023 identified the natural gas facility mentioned in ONEOK's original filing to be Mexico Pacific's Saguaro Energía LNG Export Terminal. Other sources confirmed the connection between ONEOK's Saguaro Connector Pipeline and Mexico Pacific's Saguaro Terminal, but without mentioning any specific pipeline route on the Mexican side of the border.

In February 2024, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a permit for the Saguaro Connector Pipeline, and ONEOK announced that it expected to make a final investment decision (FID) on the project by mid-2024.

In June 2024, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen sued FERC for improperly limiting its analysis of the project to the 1000-foot connector pipeline at the US-Mexico border, while neglecting to consider the full impact of the much longer main pipeline.