US Regulators Approve Mexico Pacific LNG's Saguaro Connector Pipeline

U.S. energy regulators on Thursday approved a cross-border pipeline that would export about 2.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from Texas to Mexico Pacific's Saguaro LNG export plant on Mexico's west coast.

The approval is another step in the company's plan to build an about $15 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Mexico that would export superchilled fuel processed from U.S. natural gas.

Mexico Pacific LNG has yet to give the financial greenlight for the construction of the 15 million metric ton per annum plant.

Thursday's ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the construction of the Saguaro Connector Pipeline comes weeks after the Biden administration paused export permit reviews by the Department of Energy. The administration wants the DOE to consider plants' climate, consumer, and community impacts in its deliberations.

The cross-border pipeline has been opposed by Texas groups including environmental campaigner the Sierra Club that have argued FERC should consider greenhouse gas emissions including possible methane leaks.