墨西哥计划成为美国所产天然气的LNG出口中心

据能源网8月12日墨西哥城报道，由于墨西哥北部边界毗邻一片繁荣的美国页岩盆地，该国已经确定目标成为全球最受欢迎的液化天然气运输商之一。

所用天然气几乎全部依靠进口的墨西哥——已经提出了一个有点令人惊讶的宏图：迅速成为世界上最大的天然气出口国之一。

尽管因为产能不高甚至无法满足本国需求，墨西哥目前不存在天然气出口，但该国靠近迅速增长的美国储量盆地，可以很好地将美国的天然气供应给渴求天然气的欧洲和亚洲买家。考虑到靠近美国页岩气盆地的地段优势，墨西哥南部边境拟议共有8个液化天然气出口项目，年总产能为5020万吨。其中一些计划最早于明年投入使用。

如果全部完工，这个拉丁美洲的成员国将加入一个向海外运输液化天然气的小型国家俱乐部，仅次于美国、澳大利亚和卡塔尔，排名第四。与其他三个出口大国不同的是，墨西哥将主要输送其最初进口的天然气。

墨西哥进入出口市场的宏伟计划出台之际，正值全球对天然气的需求正在飙升。当地缘政治冲突将需求推高到一个全新的水平时，由于其碳足迹相对较低，天然气已经比煤炭等碳排放更大的化石燃料更受欢迎。国际液化天然气进口商集团（International Liquefied Natural Gas importers Group）表示，去年有44个国家与地区市场进口了LNG，几乎是十年前的两倍。在接下来的几个月里，全世界都在努力提高进口和出口能力。过去两年里，亚洲一直是美国近一半液化天然气运输的目的地，尽管欧洲从产能大国转向多元化气源进口的努力意味着全球买家都在争夺有限的燃料。美国和墨西哥在莱斯大学研究中心的研究员Adrian Duhalt表示，墨西哥即将成为美国天然气的出口国，这主要是受全球市场动态的推动，特别是在亚洲，而不是因为墨西哥的政治因素。

当然，并不能保证所有拟建项目都能建成，也不能保证能按时建成。

当然墨西哥无疑处于有利地位：墨西哥拟议中的八个液化天然气项目中有六个位于太平洋沿岸，在那里，货物无需通过巴拿马运河就可以运往亚洲的目的地。除了韦拉克鲁斯州的一个海上项目外，工厂的所有天然气都将通过跨境管道从美国进口。

墨西哥政府没有回复记者的置评请求。

目前唯一在建的是Sempra能源公司位于墨西哥下加利福尼亚州太平洋沿岸的Energia Costa Azul出口终端的一期工程。其他项目仍在设计阶段，但在地缘政治冲突发生后的几个月里，进度有所加快。总部位于纽约的液化天然气公司新堡垒能源公司今年7月签署了两项协议，在塔毛利帕斯州和韦拉克鲁斯州海岸外开发可能向欧洲供应的离岸液化石油气出口项目。墨西哥国有企业联邦电力委员会（Federal Electric Commission）同月表示，正考虑在锡那罗亚州和瓦哈卡州开发液化天然气出口终端。一旦获得批准，大多数液化天然气项目可以在大约四年内开始出口。

郝芬 译自 能源网

原文如下：

Mexico Plans to Become an Export Hub With US-Drilled Natural Gas -Bloomberg

With its northern border located right next to a patch of booming US shale, the country aims to be one of the world’s leading shippers of sought-after LNG.

Mexico — which imports nearly all of the natural gas it burns — has laid out a somewhat surprising mission: to become one of the world’s top exporters of the fuel, and fast.

Although Mexico’s natural gas exports are nonexistent today, given that it produces too little fuel from the power plant to meet even its own domestic needs, the country’s physical proximity to burgeoning U.S. reserves positions it well to supply American gas to hungry buyers in Europe and Asia. With US shale in mind, a total of eight liquefied natural gas export projects have been proposed south of the border, offering a combined annual capacity of 50.2 million tonnes. Some of the operations aim to go live as early as next year.

If all are completed, the Latin American newcomer would join a very small club of nations that ship super-chilled fuel – commonly known as LNG – overseas, ranking 4th behind the United States, Australia and Qatar. And unlike those other three export heavyweights, Mexico will mostly ship gas that it imported in the first place.

Mexico’s big plans to enter the export market come at a time when global demand for natural gas is skyrocketing. Gas was already gaining popularity over dirtier fossil fuels like coal due to its relatively lower carbon footprint when the war pushed demand to an entirely new level. Forty-four markets imported LNG last year, nearly twice as many as a decade ago, the International Liquefied Natural Gas importers Group said, and the world strived to increase to both import and export capacity in the months that followed. Asia has been the destination for nearly half of US LNG shipments over the past two years, although Europe’s efforts to diversify away from Moscow mean buyers from all regions are competing for a limited fuel supply“Mexico is on the verge of becoming an exporter of natural gas produced in the United States and this is primarily driven by market dynamics unfolding globally – particularly those in Asia – not precisely because of political of Mexico,” said researcher Adrian Duhalt. Institute Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University.

Of course, there is no guarantee that all proposed projects will be built, or that they will be built on time. Some of them will also need connections to the last mile gas pipeline.

t is certainly well positioned: six of the eight proposed LNG projects in Mexico are along the Pacific coast where cargo can be shipped to destinations in Asia without having to go through the Panama Canal. With the exception of an offshore project in Veracruz, all gas for the factories would come from the United States via cross-border pipelines.

The Mexican government did not respond to requests for comment.

The only one under construction so far is the first phase of Sempra Energy’s Energia Costa Azul export terminal along the Pacific coast in the Mexican state of Baja California. The other projects are still on the drawing board but have gained momentum in the months following the war. New York-based LNG company New Fortress Energy Inc. signed two deals in July to develop offshore LNG export projects off the coasts of Tamaulipas and Veracruz that could potentially supply Europe. Mexico’s state-owned Federal Electricity Commission said the same month that it was considering developing LNG export terminals in the states of Sinaloa and Oaxaca as part of a tie-up with Seems. once approved and cleared, most LNG projects can begin exports in about four years.