U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico reach new records
U.S. natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico averaged 7.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in May 2025, the most of any month on record as Mexico’s demand for natural gas, particularly in the electric power sector, increases. On an annual basis, U.S. natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico averaged 6.4 Bcf/d in 2024, a 25% increase compared with 2019 and the highest on record in data going back as early as 1975.
Total consumption of natural gas in Mexico increased from 7.7 Bcf/d to 8.6 Bcf/d during the same time period, with most growth concentrated in Mexico’s electric power sector.
Natural gas exports from the United States enter Mexico along four main corridors—South Texas, West Texas, Arizona, and California—with a combined capacity of about 14.8 Bcf/d and an approximate utilization rate of 43% in 2024. Several factors limit U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico, including:
- Constraints in Mexico's pipeline infrastructure, including new pipeline construction and permitting delays
- Limited natural gas storage capacity in Mexico
In 2024, pipeline exports from West and South Texas collectively accounted for 91% of U.S. natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico. The South Texas corridor connects from the Agua Dulce Hub into northeastern Mexico. Natural gas from the Permian Basin in West Texas primarily serves northwestern, central, and southwestern Mexico through various natural gas systems in Mexico. Exports from West Texas increased from 0.6 Bcf/d in 2019 to 1.8 Bcf/d in 2024. The increase of U.S. imports was facilitated by the commissioning of additional connecting pipelines in central and southwestern Mexico in recent years.
Mexico plans to continue to expand its domestic pipeline network to meet potential growth in demand. Natural gas imported from the South Texas corridor through the Sur de Texas–Tuxpan pipeline has access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, power plants, and other uses of demand, and the pipeline connects with the Gasoducto Puerta al Sureste (Southeast Gateway Gas pipeline), an offshore pipeline completed in 2025 and designed to supply natural gas to new power plants in the Yucatan Peninsula. In 2022, sections of the Tula–Villa de Reyes and Tuxpan–Tula pipelines commenced partial operation, with full service anticipated in 2025. The Energia Mayakan pipeline is expected to expand natural gas infrastructure on the Yucatán Peninsula by 2025. Developers of the Centauro del Norte pipeline, which will provide additional pipeline capacity to northwestern Mexico's combined-cycle power plants, began construction in 2025.
LNG was first exported from Mexico in August 2024 from the Fast LNG Altamira Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) 1. Two additional LNG export projects, Fast LNG Altamira FLNG 2 and Energía Costa Azul, are currently under construction with a combined capacity of 0.6 Bcf/d, drawing supply from U.S. natural gas imports. Supporting pipelines, such as the Sur de Texas–Tuxpan and Gasoducto Rosarito expansion facilitate these LNG export projects.
Principal contributors: Eulalia Munoz-Cortijo, Jim O’Sullivan
Tags: natural gas, exports/imports, Mexico, map, pipelines