Mexico's Thirst for Natural Gas Continues to Increase

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Mexico's natural gas imports of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2012 represented a 21% increase from 2011 imports. The majority of the country's natural gas imports are from the U.S., which delivered approximately 1.7 Bcf/d of natural gas in 2012, accounting for about 80% of the country's gas imports. The remaining 20% of Mexico's natural gas imports comes in the form of LNG delivered to the country's three import and regasification terminals, the first of which began operating in 2006. LNG commands a much higher price than U.S. imports, which remain bottlenecked by a lack of existing infrastructure.