Mexico’s CRE approves new gas tariffs and zoning. amid transition period

HOUSTON (ICIS)— Mexico’s energy regulator CRE approved nine tariff zones for the Sistrangas pipeline grid, as well as new tariffs effective on 1 October, increasing the number of zones from six to nine.

At the request of market operator CENAGAS, a transition period has been established in order for the current rates and zones until 30 September.

The number of fare zones was increased from six to nine in order to meet the objective of users paying a transport fee according to the distance traveled,

according to CRE’s 30 July statement . The tariffs were defined taking into account the existing infrastructure and commercial flows of natural gas. The rates assigned to each of the new zones were determined using a methodology based on reserved capacity of each zone, in addition to the transportation costs alone.

CRE published the tariffs for the first six months of 2018 in Mexico’s state gazette on December 2017 , and decided to extend the term of the tariffs on 9 July, effective until 31 July. With this new announcement from CRE, the entity is once again prolonging the term of the tariffs until 30 September, making the original one-month transition period to a three-month term. 
The filing of the October-December tariffs is not yet available.

In the case of other systems that connect to the Sistrangas, the tariff rezoning should not represent changes in the authorised revenues in their respective five-year plans. According to CRE, the users of the Sistrangas can be assured that the tariff rezoning will be maintained as long as the technical conditions of the system do not change.

At the start of the new gas year on 1 July , Mexico’s gas market successfully renewed firm capacity contracts on the Sistrangas pipeline grid. Any previous uncertainty by market participants regarding new tariffs and zoning could be alleviated with by this CRE announcement for the remainder of the year.