Ambassador Pierre Alarie wrote in a post on Twitter that the Mexican government appears "not to wish to respect natural gas pipeline contracts," and that he was "deeply concerned" over the signal it sends.

IEnova, a unit of U.S.-based Sempra Energy, has previously said the CFE is seeking arbitration over the terms of a contract the Mexican firm had signed in partnership with TransCanada Corp, now known as TC Energy, to build a natural gas pipeline from Texas to the Mexican Gulf coast port of Tuxpan.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, editing by G Crosse)