According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas exports by pipeline from the United States continued to rise in 2016, with an average of 6 bcf/d during the year (169 mcm/d), twice the average of 2009. The bulk of the increase is attributable to US gas exports to Mexico, which reached an average of 3.6 bcf/d (102 mcm/d) over the January-August 2016 period, i.e. 85% above the 2011-2015 average and stood at 4.2 bcf/d (119 mcm/d) in August 2016. The Mexican Ministry of Energy (SENER) expects Mexican gas demand to continue rising in the short term, as US gas imports in Mexico have already outpaced projections, with the August 2016 import level (4.1 bcf/d, or 116 mcm/d) matching the 2013 forecast for 2018.
Mexico is expanding its domestic gas pipeline network to accommodate higher gas imports from the United States, which are expected to help meet rising power demand, offset declining domestic gas output, reduce reliance on LNG imports, and create new markets for natural gas in currently supply-constrained regions. In 2015, SENER announced a five-year plan proposing 12 pipeline additions (so far, seven contracts have been awarded).
On the US side, gas transmission pipelines to Mexico are also under development. The border-crossing gas pipeline capacity rose from 4.4 bcf/d (124 mcm/d) in 2013 to 6.9 bcf/d (195 mcm/d) in 2014, with the completion of the 2.3 bcf/d (65 mcm/d) Los Ramones Phase I pipeline. This project has already mostly displaced LNG imports at the Altamira terminal with natural gas from the Eagle Ford play. In the next three years, US pipeline capacity into Mexico will nearly double. In 2017, four U.S. pipeline projects under construction—Roadrunner (Phase II), Comanche Trail, Presidio Crossing (also called Trans-Pecos), and Nueva Era—totaling 3.5 Bcf/d (99 mcm/d), will supply gas to new CCGT power plants in the states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, and Sinaloa. By the end of 2018, two additional pipelines—KM Mier-Monterrey and Neuces-Brownsville—totalling 3.3 Bcf/d (93 mcm/d), are projected to begin exporting gas to Mexico’s Northeast and Central regions, mainly from the Eagle Ford play in southern Texas.