TransCanada announced Tuesday a major investment in refined oil products storage and transportation in Mexico with two Mexican partners.
Citing growing demand in Mexico, the big Canadian energy infrastructure company unveiled a proposed US$800 million project to bring products such as gasoline and diesel fuel into central Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico coast.
TransCanada said in a statement that it had teamed up with Sierra Oil & Gas and Grupo TMM to jointly develop storage and infrastructure.
The proposed project “would be the largest single investment in refined products since the establishment of the Mexico energy reform” in 2014, it said.
The Calgary-based firm will hold a 50 percent stake in the project, leaving energy company Sierra Oil & Gas with a 40 percent holding and logistics firm Grupo TMM with a 10 percent interest.
The project includes a marine terminal near Tuxpan on the Gulf of Mexico coast in Veracruz state, a 265-kilometer (165-mile) refined products pipeline and an inland storage and distribution hub in central Mexico.
TransCanada earlier this year announced a shift in its focus to Mexico from the United States, while suing the US government for rejecting its Keystone XL pipeline proposal after seven years of deliberation.
The project would have moved crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to US Gulf Coast refineries.
Mexico relies on imports for more than half of its energy needs, according to government figures, and demand is growing.
Reforms to Mexico’s petroleum sector broke up a state monopoly that had dated to 1938, with the goal of revitalizing oil production and stimulating the country’s economy after years of declining production.
