Tula-Villa de Reyes Gas Pipeline
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The Tula-Villa de Reyes Gas Pipeline is a gas pipeline in the states of Hidalgo, Querétaro, Guanjuato, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The northern and lateral sections of the pipeline began operating in 2022 and 2023, respectively, while the southern section remains under construction.
Location
The main pipeline (split into North and South sections) runs from the CC Tula and CFE Francisco Pérez Ríos power stations in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico to the Villa de Reyes compressor station in Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Near the main pipeline's midpoint, at El Sauz combined cycle power station in Querétaro state, a spur line (identified by owner TC Energy as the Lateral section) branches west to the Salamanca CFE power station in Guanajuato state.
At El Sauz, the main pipeline also links up with TC Energy's Tamazunchale Gas Pipeline coming in from the east.[1]
Project Details
North Section
- Operator: TC Energía México[2]
- Owner: TC Energía México[2]
- Parent Company: TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corporation)
- Proposed capacity: 886 million cubic feet per day[2][3]
- Length: 206 km (128 miles)[4]
- Diameter: 36 inches[2]
- Status: Operating[5][6][7]
- Start Year: 2022[6][7]
- Associated infrastructure: Villa de Reyes power station
Lateral Section
- Operator: TC Energía México[2]
- Owner: TC Energía México[2]
- Parent Company: TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corporation)
- Proposed capacity: 886 million cubic feet per day[2][3]
- Length: 120 km (75 miles)[4][8]
- Diameter: 36 inches[2]
- Status: Operating[5][6]
- Start Year: 2023[6]
- Associated infrastructure: Salamanca CFE power station
South Section
- Operator: TC Energía México[2]
- Owner: TC Energía México[2]
- Parent Company: TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corporation)
- Proposed capacity: 886 million cubic feet per day[2][3]
- Length: 110 km (68 miles)[9]
- Diameter: 36 inches[2]
- Status: Construction[5][6]
- Start Year:
Background
The Tula-Villa de Reyes project, owned and operated by TC Energía México (a subsidiary of TC Energy), was originally designed as a 420 km (261 mi), 36-inch pipeline with the capacity to transport 886 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, or 9.2 billion cubic meters per year.[2][3] Tula-Villa de Reyes was seen as a key link in a multi-pipeline system designed to bring larger volumes of Texas-sourced natural gas into central Mexico. Gas transported from the United States via the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan Gas Pipeline was to enter Mexico's gas transport system at Tuxpan on the Gulf Coast, then continue via the Tuxpan-Tula Gas Pipeline to Tula, where it would merge into the Tula-Villa de Reyes system.[10]
In April 2016, Mexico's Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) granted TC Energy a 25-year, $337 million contract to build, own, and operate the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline, with a scheduled completion date of January 2018.[11] The pipeline was to supply natural gas to power plants in Central Mexico, intersecting with TC Energy's Tamazunchale Gas Pipeline and Tuxpan-Tula Gas Pipeline, as well as the Villa de Reyes-Aguascalientes-Guadalajara Gas Pipeline.[2][12]
Construction of the pipeline was suspended by Mexico's National Anthropology and History Institute in the first quarter of 2018 after the line's route crossed new archaeological finds in the states of Querétaro and Guanajuato.[13] In November 2018 TC Energy announced that construction would be further delayed during consultations with indigenous communities along the pipeline's route. TC Energy estimated the pipeline would be complete in the second half of 2019.[13]
As of February 2020 the pipeline had still not come online, but developers said that they expected it to be operational by the third quarter of 2020.[14][15] As of June 2020, the pipeline was still only 83.5% complete, according to a report from Mexico's SENER (Secretary of Energy.[16][17] In August 2020, TC Energía announced that the pipeline's commissioning would be further delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic; revised plans called for the pipeline to begin operations in the first half of 2021, pending the reopening of government agencies closed by Covid-19.[18][19] As of February 2021, the pipeline was still not completed.[20][21]
In December 2021 TC Energía announced that it had reached an agreement with communities impacted by the project and that construction would recommence shortly, with commercial operations set to begin in 2022.[22]
In April 2022, TC Energía announced that it had completed construction of the lateral and northern sections of the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline, and still expected to finish the pipeline's southern section by the end of 2022, pending successful resolution of land access negotiations with neighboring communities.[23]
In summer 2022, the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline was one of several projects consolidated under a newly announced public-private partnership between TC Energía and CFE.[24][25] Manuel Bartlett, director of Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), noted that the new partnership sought to end tensions that had emerged between TC Energía and CFE, including cases where CFE had brought charges against TC Energía before international arbitrators.[26][27] CFE's 2022 annual report, released in April 2023, noted that completion of the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline in accordance with the rights of indigenous communities was a key priority for the new partnership.[25][28]
Commercial operation
North section
The 206 km northern section of the pipeline began operating in Q3 2022.[6][7] This section was described in TC Energy's 2022 annual report as follows: "The north section of the Villa de Reyes pipeline is interconnected to our Tamazunchale pipeline and third-party systems, supporting gas deliveries to a power plant in Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosí."[4]
Lateral section
The lateral section was brought into service in Q3 2023.[6] This section was described jointly with the north section in TC Energy's 2023 annual report as follows: "The north and lateral sections of the Villa de Reyes pipeline are interconnected to our Tamazunchale pipeline and third-party systems, supporting gas deliveries to power plants in Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosí and Salamanca, Guanajuato."
South section
The south section was still under development as of August 2025. TC Energy has described the south section as follows in recent annual reports: "This pipeline section will connect to the operational north and lateral sections of the Villa de Reyes pipeline and to the Tula pipeline."[8][9]
In a May 2024 conference call reporting Q1 2024 financial results, TC Energy estimated that the pipeline's southern section would be mechanically complete sometime in the second half of 2024, "subject to successful resolution of stakeholder issues."[29] However, subsequent Q2 and Q3 company reports released in August and November 2024 made no mention of the pipeline, leaving the status of the southern section in question.[30][31]
As of August 2025, TC Energy had still not announced a clear start-up date for the south section of the pipeline. TC Energy's most recent annual reports, published in February 2025, simply noted that "We continue to work with our partner, the CFE, to complete the south section of the Villa de Reyes pipeline. The in-service date will be determined upon resolution of outstanding stakeholder issues."[9][32]
TC Energy's Q2 2025 report to shareholders, released in July 2025, made it clear that the south section remained indefinitely stalled, noting "the suspension of AFUDC (Allowance for Funds Used During Construction) on the south section of the Villa de Reyes pipeline in first quarter 2025 due to ongoing construction delays."[33]
Opposition
Several communities in the municipality of Tula de Allende, including Xitejé de la Reforma, Xitejé de Zapata, San Francisco Bojay, Iturbehe and Tejay have raised concerns about the safety of the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline, requiring TC Energy to repeatedly suspend work on the pipeline while negotiating payment of compensation to the affected communities.[22][34]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ "Villa de Reyes Pipeline Project Map" (PDF). TC Energy Mexico. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 "Sistema Tula – Villa de Reyes,", TC Energía website, accessed April 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "0768 CFE: Gasoducto Tula – Villa de Reyes". Proyectos México. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
{{cite web}}: no-break space character in|title=at position 25 (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Annual Report 2022 (pp 42-43)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2023-02-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "TC Energy Natural Gas Pipelines as of December 2023 (pp 3-4)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2023-12-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 "2023 Annual information form (p 13)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2024-02-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Quarterly Report to Shareholders: TC Energy reports strong 2022 results" (PDF). TC Energy. 2023-02-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Annual Report 2023 (pp 41-42)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2024-02-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Annual Report 2024 (pp 44, 56)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2025-02-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Five Mexico Natural Gas Projects to Watch in 2022". Natural Gas Intelligence. December 20, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Adjudican gasoducto Tula-Villa de Reyes,", 20 Minutos, April 8, 2016.
- ↑ "Villa De Reyes Pipeline Project,", TC Energy website, accessed April 2021.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 TC Energy halts work on delayed Mexico gas lines, Argus Media, Nov. 20, 2018
- ↑ Christopher Lenton, TC’s Tula-Villa de Reyes Line to Begin Service in 2Q but Tuxpan-Tula Still Stuck, Natural Gas Intel, February 18, 2020
- ↑ "TC Energy: gasoducto de Villa de Reyes iniciará en 3T20". Opportimes. June 22, 2020.
- ↑ "Segundo Informe de Labores (p 54)" (PDF). SENER (Secretaría de Energía). September 1, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Tienen 3 ductos mínimo avance". El Norte. September 24, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "TC Energía retrasa puesta en marcha de gasoducto Tula - Villa de Reyes". Oil & Gas Magazine. August 3, 2020.
- ↑ "TC Energy Pushes Back Tula-Villa de Reyes In-Service Date to 2021". Natural Gas Intelligence. July 30, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Annual U.S. liquefied natural gas exports forecast to exceed pipeline exports in 2022 - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". www.eia.gov. February 18, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "TC Energy Looks to Complete Tula-Villa de Reyes Pipeline This Year". Natural Gas Intelligence. February 23, 2021.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Continuará la construcción del gasoducto Tula-Villa de Reyes". La Jornada Hidalgo. December 30, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "TC Energy reports solid first quarter 2022 results executing an opportunity-rich portfolio while supplying the growing demand for energy". TC Energy. April 29, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Lenton, Christopher (5 August 2022). "TC Energy, CFE Sanction Mexico's 1.3 Bcf/d Marine Pipeline Extension; Possible Start in 2025". Natural Gas Intelligence. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Informe Anual 2022 (pp 6, 24)" (PDF). CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad). April 27, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "CFE se convertirá también en transportista de gas natural". El Economista. July 4, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Borrón y cuenta nueva: El gasoducto con el que CFE retoma su relación con los privados". Expansión. August 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Tres ejidos de Tula no permiten paso para terminar conexión del gasoducto de TransCanada: Tello". Revista Acrópolis. May 20, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "First quarter 2024 conference call" (PDF). TC Energy. 2024-05-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Second quarter 2024 conference call" (PDF). TC Energy. 2024-08-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Third quarter 2024 conference cal" (PDF). TC Energy. 2024-11-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "2024 Annual information form (p 13)" (PDF). TC Energy Corporation. 2025-02-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Quarterly Report to Shareholders: TC Energy reports strong second quarter 2025 operating and financial results (p 15)" (PDF). TC Energy. 2025-07-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Vecinos detienen obra de gasoducto en Tula,", El Sol de Hidalgo, January 25, 2018.
