Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) announced Thursday that the Centauro del Norte natural gas pipeline will begin partial operations in Baja California by November 2026. CFE Director General Emilia Esther Calleja Alor made the announcement at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Mexico City.
The $1.431 billion project will carry natural gas from Sonora to Baja California at a rate of 400 million cubic feet per day. Full completion is expected by December 2028. The pipeline is being built in two segments.
A Years-Long Effort to Connect Baja’s Gas Grid
The Centauro del Norte pipeline runs approximately 416 kilometers (260 miles) from a connection point near Mexicali to the Pitiquito compressor station in Caborca, Sonora. Phase 1 connects an interconnection with Sempra’s existing Rosarito pipeline near Mexicali to San Luis Río Colorado in Sonora. The second phase extends the route farther south into Sonora.
CFE, Carso Energy, and Sempra Infraestructura signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2023 to develop the pipeline jointly. By December 2023, Carso Energy and CFE confirmed they had signed an investment and development agreement along with a gas transport contract.
What It Means for Baja California’s Energy Supply
Baja California is not connected to Mexico’s national energy grid. The state depends on cross-border gas imports from the United States and a limited network of existing pipelines. That infrastructure has long constrained industrial growth in Mexicali and Tijuana, where manufacturing plants compete for limited gas supply.
The new pipeline will interconnect with Carso’s 472 million cubic feet per day Samalayuca-Sásabe pipeline and Sempra’s Sásabe-Guaymas pipeline. It will supply natural gas to existing power plants in both states. CFE also plans to feed the 641-megawatt González Ortega combined-cycle power plant under development in Mexicali and the 648-megawatt San Luis Río Colorado plant planned for Sonora.
Nearshoring Demand Drives Urgency
The project comes as nearshoring is pushing new factory investment into northern Mexico. Baja California’s border corridor, stretching from Tijuana through Tecate to Mexicali, has seen a surge in demand for industrial space. Reliable and affordable natural gas is essential for manufacturing and power generation in the region.
Mexico’s overall natural gas demand is projected to grow by 35% from current levels, reaching 12 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, according to pipeline developer TC Energy Corp. Gas imports from the United States are expected to climb from about 6 billion cubic feet per day to 9 billion over the same period.
The announcement was first reported by Punto Norte.