Mirage Energy Corp (MRGE)

[Macod]

The southeast of the country will lack gas until 2023

Mexico City.- Over the past 12 years, the southeastern part of the country, which includes Veracruz, Oaxaca, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán, has insufficient natural gas, the situation of which will last until 2023, when it ends. the construction of two compression stations.

The shortage is due to the lack of pressure in the 48-inch diameter gas pipeline known as Cactus-San Fernando to increase transport volume, which has caused supply problems for at least five power generation plants.

The combined cycle plants that have problems are: Mérida II, Mérida III, Campeche combined cycle, Valladolid and Valladolid III, which require, on average, 310 million cubic feet per day, but are only supplied with 52 million cubic feet, that is, 17% of its total requirements, revealed the National Center for Natural Gas Control (Cenagas).

The industry in that area presents problems due to the lack of energy, such as blackouts and higher costs, because they are forced to consume more expensive alternative fuels, such as liquefied gas, fuel oil or diesel.

Cenagas, a decentralized public body in charge of the management, administration and operation of the natural gas transportation and storage system, estimates that to unlock the "bottleneck" an investment of close to 9 billion pesos is required.

Necessary investment
These resources would be destined to the construction of two compression stations at different points of the Cactus-San Fernando gas pipeline.

However, the strategy depends on the federal government approving the investment in the two compression stations of that pipeline: Lerdo and Tecolutla.

It is estimated that, in both cases, the executive projects will be ready during the first two months of 2022, and that their construction will begin between March and April of the same year.

The completion of the two stations is scheduled for 2023, between July and September.

The first of the projects consists of the construction and integration of the Lerdo compression station, in the 48 ”(inch) Cactus-San Fernando gas pipeline, which requires an investment of 4 billion pesos.

For the Tecolutla station, to be developed in the same gas pipeline, resources of almost 5 thousand 53 million pesos are required.

The problem, detailed a senior official of the Ministry of Energy (Sener), is that currently the transport flow that Cenagas has in that pipeline is 1,139 million cubic feet per day and 61 kg / cm2 of pressure.

However, to comply with the conditions provided by the Executive Directorate of Operation of the national center itself, it is necessary to increase the flow to 1,420 million cubic feet per day and 69 kg / cm2 of pressure.

The official mentioned that even the lack of pressure to increase the volume of gas transportation has caused the generation of electricity, which has an average capacity of 1,261 megawatts (MW), “to have a degradation of 400 MW in three cycles. combined in the area ”.

For example, when a maximum demand was registered in August 2018, the impact was up to 774 MW (61%) that were left out of operation.

The supply of natural gas to the southeast of the country is carried out through the Mayakán gas pipeline, whose diameter is 30 ”and has a capacity to transport 250 million cubic feet per day, which begins at the New Pemex Gas Processing Complex and ends in the Yucatan peninsula, although it is insufficient to meet the demand in the area.

Supply problems
The consulted source warned that, “if the demand for natural gas required in the southeast area of ??the country could not be met, the unavailability of natural gas supply would continue, causing problems in the supply of electricity to the mentioned combined cycle plants, since, up to now, there is only capacity to supply them 17% of the total they require ”.

It is a fact, he stressed, that "given the current conditions and equipment due to the lack of pressure, it is not possible to transport larger volumes of natural gas and meet the demand of companies in the area of ??influence of the center and southeast of the country, since that operational improvements are required to increase the pressure ”.

The analyzes on the cost and benefit of the construction of the two compression stations, to which EL UNIVERSAL had access, indicate that “this new infrastructure would allow increasing the capacity of the natural gas transportation system to supply the southeastern part of the country. , increasing the transportation to 1,420 million cubic feet per day of natural gas through this gas pipeline and complying with the transportation capacity established in the CFE demand request, according to official letter DG / 236/2020 CFE dated 8 October 2020 ”.

They cite that the supply deficit problem is still in force, despite the fact that in June 2019 the Texas-Tuxpan marine gas pipeline was left packed, starting its injection in September of that year, with a maximum capacity of 2.6 billion daily cubic feet of natural gas to the 48 ”Cactus-San Fernando gas pipeline, in order to meet the growing demand for hydrocarbons by the CFE and the industry in the central and southeastern regions of the country.

“It is evident that this demand will not be able to be met due to the limitations in the current equipment,” commented a senior Cenagas official who asked not to be cited.

https://rio19.mx/2021/12/19/carecera-de-gas-sureste-del-pais-hasta-2023/