Southeast Gateway Gas Pipeline

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The Southeast Gateway Gas Pipeline (known locally as Gasoducto Puerta al Sureste) is an operating natural gas pipeline in Mexico.

Location

From its northern terminus in Tuxpan (Veracruz state), the pipeline runs primarily offshore, following Mexico's Gulf coast southeast for hundreds of kilometers before making landfall again at Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz state) and Dos Bocas (Tabasco state).

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Project Details

• Operator: TC Energía
• Owner: TC Energía; Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE)
• Parent company: TC Energy; Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE)
• Capacity: 1.3 billion cubic feet per day
• Length: 715 km to 778 km
• Diameter: 36 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2025
• Cost: US$4.5 billion
• Financing: FID (August 2022)
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Gas Pipeline
  • CCC Mérida power station
  • CCC Riviera Maya (Valladolid) power station

Background

In July 2022, the Canadian firm TC Energy announced a partnership with Mexico's CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad) to build an extension to TC Energy's existing Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Gas Pipeline. The estimated budget for constructing the new pipeline was initially estimated at US$5 billion. The new offshore pipeline, known as the Southeast Gateway Gas Pipeline, would transport natural gas from the existing pipeline's southern terminus in Tuxpan to the port of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz state. An additional section of offshore pipeline would extend east from Coatzacoalcos, making landfall again at the Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco state.

The Southeast Gateway pipeline was designed to supply fossil gas to new power plants on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, including the 565 MW CCC Mérida power station and the 1.1 GW CCC Riviera Maya (Valladolid) power station. Gas from the pipeline was also expected to eventually feed the expanded Jáltipan-Salina Cruz Gas Pipeline for transport across the Tehuantepec Isthmus to the proposed Salina Cruz LNG Export Terminal.

The new pipeline was to initially be owned 85% by TC Energy and 15% by CFE, with CFE's ownership stake increasing to 49% by 2026.

Final Investment Decision (2022)

In August 2022, TC Energy and the Mexican Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) reached an FID to build the project, as part of a broader strategic alliance consolidating other infrastructure, including the Tula-Villa de Reyes Gas Pipeline and Tuxpan-Tula Gas Pipeline. On August 10, 2022, TC Energy announced a public offering of common shares to help fund the project.

According to TC Energy, the pipeline was to be 715 kilometers in length; CFE, in its 2022 annual report, described the pipeline as slightly longer (778 kilometers).

Construction Begins (2023)

As of July 2023, TC Energy reported that onshore pipeline construction was already underway, with the installation of offshore segments scheduled to begin in late 2023, and start-up of commercial operations expected during the first quarter of 2025.

In May 2024 TC Energy reported that all three landfall sites for the Southeast Gateway Pipeline were 100% complete, with deepwater offshore pipe installation more than 70% complete, and steady progress underway in the construction of onshore facilities. The pipeline project reportedly remained on budget and on schedule for a mid-2025 start-up date.

Start-up of Commercial Operations (2025)

The Southeast Gateway pipeline began operating in May 2025, following completion of offshore pipe installation and mechanical work earlier in the year. In June 2025 TC Energy reported that the pipeline's successful completion took less than three years from the original FID date, and at a cost roughly 13% lower than originally estimated. A company press release noted that TC Energy had already received payment from CFE for initial shipments of gas through the pipeline during the month of May, while gas supply to other customers remained contingent on regulated rate approval from Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Energía.

Opposition and environmental concerns

Following the August 2022 final investment decision on the Southeast Gateway pipeline, 18 organizations led by the Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) warned of the pipeline's grave risk to the surrounding coral reef corridor. They alleged that TC Energy and CFE were trying to avoid scrutiny of the project's total impact by filing separate statements for two sections of the pipeline, and urged oil and gas regulator Agencia de Seguridad, Energía y Ambiente (ASEA) to order TC Energy and CFE to submit a single impact statement for the project as a whole.

Environmentalists and others have noted that implementation of the Southeast Gateway pipeline will increase demand for gas in the Yucatán, raise emissions, and lock Mexico into fossil fuel dependence for another generation.