Samalayuca - Sasabe Natural Gas Pipeline

active

Samalayuca-Sasabe project envisaged the construction, operation and maintenance of a 650-km natural gas pipeline passing through the states of Chihuahua and Sonora. The pipeline was set to have a capacity of 472 million cubic feet per day. In September 2015, the project was awarded by the Mexico's regulatory agency CFE to the consortium between Carso Electric S.A. de C.V and Promotora del Desarrollo de America Latina, S.A. de C.V, from Mexican company Grupo Carso. The contract lenght was established as 25 years of commercial operations, and the sponsor established the special purpose company Carso Gasoducto Norte, S.A. de C.V. to lead the project. Besides Grupo Carso, three other bidders took part in the process: Transportadora de Gas Natural del Noroeste (of TransCanada), Gasoducto de Aguaprieta (IEnova), CopavisaPMC and Fisterra Energy México-Operadora Mexicana de Gasoductos. The bidding criteria was the lowest revenues. Grupo Carso presented the winning offer of US$ 471.3 million, 63% below the ceiling. The investment in the project was estimated at US$ 570.6 million. Financial closure was achieved in August 2016. The US$ 300 million financing package was provided by four international banks: BBVA Bancomer, MUFG, CaixaBank and Mizuho Bank. Construction works started in January 2016, and commercial operations were expected to commence in November 2017.