The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized construction on Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC's 2.6-Bcf/d Border Crossing gas transportation facility to set up natural gas deliveries to Mexico.
The Border Crossing pipeline would comprise about 1,000 feet of 42-inch-diameter line in the Gulf of Mexico from a point near Cameron County, Texas, to the international boundary with the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. It would connect to the Valley Crossing Pipeline under construction in Texas and a 500-mile pipeline in Mexico to be built by Infraestructura Marina del Golfo, a joint venture between TransCanada Corp. and Sempra Energy's Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB. de CV.
The commission also approved Valley Crossing's request to conduct a subsea tie-in instead of an above-water connection to reduce total environment footprint and reduce potential stress on the pipeline. (FERC docket CP17-19)
Valley Crossing, owned by Enbridge Inc.'s Spectra Energy Partners LP, filed an application in November 2016 asking FERC for an order issuing a presidential permit and a certificate order for the project. FERC staff then issued a favorable environmental assessment on June 2017, saying the project would not cause significant damage to the environment. The commission granted the request in October 2017.
