Villa de Reyes-Aguascalientes-Guadalajara Natural Gas Pipeline

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The Villa de Reyes-Aguascalientes-Guadalajara project envisaged the construction, operation and maintenance of a 389-km natural gas pipeline passing through the states of Aguascalientes and Jalisco. The pipeline was set to have a capacity of 886 million cubic feet per day. In March 2016, the project was awarded by the Mexico's regulatory agency CFE to Fermaca Pipeline de Occidente S. de R.L. de C.V., a subsidiary of Mexican company Fermaca. The contract lenght was established as 25 years of commercial operations. Besides Fermaca, two other bidders took part in the auction: Energia Occidente de Mexico, Enagás Internacional and Gasoducto de Aguaprieta. The bidding criteria was the lowest revenues. Fermaca presented the winning offer of US$ 269 million, 76% below the ceiling. The investment in the project was estimated at US$ 960 million. Financial closure was achieved in November 2016. The US$435 million financing package was provided by nine international banks (ING, Santander, Sabadell, Mizuho, Intesa, Natixis, Nord LB, KfW, BNP Paribas and KDB). The remaining cost was equity financed. Commercial operations were expected to commence by 2018.