Mexico’s state firm CFE International LLC (CFEi) was the biggest net buyer of U.S. natural gas in 2022, according to data from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) compiled by Natural Gas Intelligence.

Southern Company and Duke Energy followed in the ranking, according to Natural Gas Intelligence’s analysis of the so-called FERC Form No. 552, or Annual Report of Natural Gas Transactions.  

CFEi, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electridad, provides services for CFE’s generation companies, marketers, distribution companies, and large industrial customers in Mexico.  

CFEi’s number-one spot in net purchases “speaks to the growing presence that U.S. natural gas plays in Mexico,” Patrick Rau, NGI’s director of Strategy & Research, commented.  

Last year, 68% of U.S. natural gas exports by pipeline were delivered to Mexico and 32% were delivered to Canada, the Department of Energy said in a quarterly report last month.

U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico fell in every month of 2022 relative to 2021, except for January and February, the DOE aid. Natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico fell to 5.7 billion cubic feet per day Bcf/d in 2022, down from 5.9 Bcf/d in 2021, DOE data showed.

U.S. exports to Mexico have grown substantially in the past 20 years, especially in the past five years, due to growing demand for power generation and industrial uses in Mexico and an increase in pipeline capacity.

In terms of gross purchases, the biggest buyer of U.S. natural gas continued to be privately-held company Tenaska, the data compiled by NGI showed. Tenaska was the biggest player in the U.S. natural gas physical market for a second year running, followed by oil and gas supermajors BP and Shell, which have large natural gas trading divisions.

Tenaska is an energy company which with large natural gas and electric power marketing business operations, via Tenaska Marketing Ventures (TMV) and Tenaska Power Services Co. (TPS), respectively.   

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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