HOUSTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico grew by 24 percent to 1.69 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/ d) in 2012, the highest level since the data collection began in 1973, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.
With imports now accounting for over 30 percent of its total supply, Mexico's natural gas use is also at its highest level ever, the agency said in a news release. Natural gas consumption is rising faster in Mexico than production, and as a result, Mexico is relying more on natural gas imports from the United States, it said.
Between 2007 and 2011, natural gas consumption in Mexico rose 4 percent per year on average, while average annual natural gas production climbed only 1.2 percent. Growing demand in the industrial sector drove the increases in natural gas consumption in Mexico to a record-high level in 2011, the EIA said.
Before 2006, almost all of Mexico's natural gas imports came from the United States, however, more recently, Mexico has diversified its supply sources by importing liquefied natural gas from Nigeria, Qatar, Indonesia, Peru, and Yemen, the EIA said. But the vast majority of Mexico's natural gas imports continue to come from the United States.
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