Mexico's Esentia Energy to increase natural gas transportation capacity by 50% in five years

By Adriana Barrera

MEXICO CITY, Dec 2 - Mexico's Esentia Energy ESENTIAI.MX plans to boost its natural gas transport capacity by 50% by the third phase of its five-year expansion plan, betting on growing demand, its CEO said on Tuesday.

The company raised $457 million in an initial public offering in late November to partly finance the expansion and reduce debt.

• Esentia will seek to expand its existing interconnected system by 660 million cubic feet, CEO Daniel Bustos told Reuters.

• Esentia operates more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of pipelines, known as the Waha or Wahalajara System, which transports low-cost natural gas from Waha, Texas, to major industrial centers in central-western Mexico, including Guadalajara.

• Mexico is highly deficient in natural gas production and covers its needs with imports from the United States through a pipeline network.

• President Claudia Sheinbaum's government aims to reduce that dependence and boost natural gas production by 40% to 5 billion cubic feet daily by the end of her tenure in 2030.

• "There is a co-dependence," Bustos said about U.S.-Mexico natural gas trade. "The United States needs to deliver natural gas to someone, because otherwise they cannot produce oil."