Airport, Subways and Auto Plant Feature in Mexico's First-Quarter 2016 Project Starts

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Planes, trains and automobiles play prominent roles in Mexico's project kickoffs slated for first-quarter 2016, as well as big power, refinery and metals and minerals facilities. Industrial Info is tracking 277 projects worth $22.53 billion that are scheduled to begin construction in Mexico in the first quarter of next year.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing first-quarter project kickoffs in Mexico, by industry.

With the construction of a massive airport project, an automobile plant and two subway projects scheduled to begin, the Industrial Manufacturing Industry once again leads in project value. Industrial Info is tracking 53 industrial manufacturing projects, worth $14 billion, that have planned construction kickoffs in the first quarter.

This category includes an $8.5 billion project that is part of a new, $12 billion international airport in Mexico City, for which the construction kickoff was pushed back from fourth-quarter 2015. The airport will have three 4,500-meter runways, and is designed to handle 50,000 passengers per year. Completion of the first phase is now set for third-quarter 2020. Project participants include Netherlands Airport Consultants (The Hague, Netherlands), Foster & Partners (London, England) and FR-EE (Mexico City/New York). For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Power-related kickoffs come in second place, with 46 projects, worth nearly $2.7 billion. This includes the $650 million Cactus combined-cycle cogeneration plant in Villahermosa, Tabasco, with an expected capacity of 520 megawatts (MW). Pemex Gas y Petroquimica Basica (Mexico City) has picked a consortium including Enesa Energía S.A. de C.V. (Mexico City), Invenergy LLC (Chicago, Illinois) and Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Tlalnepantla, Mexico) to build the plant, with completion slated for second-quarter 2018. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Next comes Petroleum Refining, where Industrial Info is tracking 36 projects, worth $2.2 billion. Among these is the 52,000 barrel-per-day (BBL/d), $500 million reformer unit addition at Pemex's Miguel Hidalgo Refinery in Tula De Allende, Hidalgo. The reformer unit will allow the refinery to increase distillates productions, with maximum gasoline yields, through a bottom-of-the-barrel scheme with minimum residual production. Detailed engineering by ICA-Fluor Daniel S.A. de C V will continue through the end of this year. ICA-Fluor Daniel is a joint venture owned by Empresas ICA (NYSE:ICA) (Mexico City, Mexico) and Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas). For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Industrial Info also is tracking 48 metals and minerals projects in Mexico, worth $1.7 billion. Among them is Cemex Mexico SA de CV's (NYSE:CX) (Monterrey, Mexico) $650 million expansion at Tepeaca cement plant in Cuautinchan, Puebla. The expansion had been dormant since 2010 due to a market downturn, but the company now plans to resume construction in January. A new, 10,000-ton-per-day production line will be added, increasing total production to 4.4 million tons per day. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The six remaining highest-value projects set to kick off in Mexico in the fourth quarter are:

• $850 million: Volkswagen AG's (Wolfsburg, Germany) Puebla Automotive Assembly Plant, Phase I Equipment Addition, in Cuautlancingo, Puebla
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $800 million: Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de Mexico SA de CV's Ciudad De Mexico International Airport Passenger Terminal Addition in Mexico City
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $628 million: Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transporte's Mexico Subway Line A Expansion in La Paz
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $535 million: Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transporte's Mexico Subway Line 4 Expansion, Phase I, in Acolman
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $404 million: Grupo Iberdrola SA's (Bilbao, Spain) Escobedo 850-MW Natural Gas-Fired Noreste Power Station in General Escobedo, Nuevo Leon
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $402.1 million: Fermaca Global LP's (Mexico City) Delicias-to-Laguna Natural Gas Pipeline, Phase II, in Delicias, Chihuahua
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.