OREANDA-NEWS. December 14, 2016. Construction of four cross-border natural gas pipelines from the US to Mexico is on schedule with the pipelines expected to add 3.5 Bcf/d (99mn m?/d) of capacity to Mexico's gas pipeline system in the first half of next year.

The Roadrunner pipeline connects Oneok Partners' Oneok WesTex pipeline in Coyanosa, Texas, to an international border-crossing connection at the Mexico border in San Elizario, Texas, where it connects with Fermaca's Tarahumara gas pipeline. The second phase of that project that increased capacity to 570mn cf/d was completed in October, ahead of its scheduled first quarter in-service date, Oneok Partners told Argus. The pipeline is fully subscribed under 25-year firm fee-based agreements. Mexico's state-owned utility CFE is an anchor shipper with 400mn cf/d.

CFE will also be the anchor shipper for the Nueva Era pipeline owned by Howard Energy Partners and Grupo Clisa. The utility has a 25-year agreement to receive about 490mn cf/d to supply power plants in the Escobedo and Monterrey areas. The 190-mile (306km) pipeline will connect Webb county, Texas, to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and will start transporting gas in June 2017, Howard Energy Partners told Argus. The pipeline still has uncommitted capacity despite an open season held by Midstream de Mexico, one of the project partners, in November 2015.

The remaining two pipelines to start operations in 2017 are the Comanche Trail and Trans-Peco pipelines, both owned by Energy Transfer Partners. The 1.1 Bcf/d Comanche Trail line is scheduled to be in service in January 2017, while the 1.4 Bcf/d Trans-Peco has a planned startup of March 2017, Energy Transfer Partners says. The company declined to disclose details of its customers.

Securing capacity in the new pipelines is crucial to CFE's strategy of transitioning towards gas-fired power generation through the conversion of existing fuel-oil fired power stations and the construction of up to nine new combined cycle plants.

The four cross-border pipelines will complement an ambitious \\$16bn Mexican government program that will see the construction of 10,000km (6,214 miles) of gas pipelines by 2019, adding 85pc more than what the current administration says it inherited in 2012.

Mexico currently imports around half of the country's gas needs, including growing pipeline supply from the US and LNG from Peru and other sources.

US natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico in September 2016 were 4.1 Bcf/d, up from 3.3 Bcf/d in the same month a year earlier. LNG imports are starting to tail off as pipeline supply rises.