Sempra International announced that its Sempra Mexico has been awarded two contracts by Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), to construct, own and operate an approximately 500-mile, $1 billion pipeline network connecting the Northwestern states of Sonora and Sinaloa. After a competitive and transparent international public bidding process, Sempra Mexico's offers were selected to develop the new pipeline network. The network will be comprised of two segments that will interconnect to the U.S. interstate pipeline system in Arizona and will provide natural gas to new and existing CFE power plants that currently use fuel oil.

The capacity for each segment is fully contracted by CFE under two 25-year firm capacity contracts denominated in U.S. dollars. The first segment, a 36-inch, 310-miles pipeline will run from Sasabe, south of Tucson, Ariz., to Guaymas, Sonora, and will have the capacity of 770 million cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas per day. The new pipeline is expected to begin operations late 2014.

The second segment from Guaymas to El Oro, Sinaloa, is a 30-inch, 200-mile pipeline with a capacity of 510 Mcf of natural gas per day. The pipeline is planned to begin operations in the third quarter of 2016. This new pipeline network will provide reliable access to clean natural gas to CFE's plants in Sonora and Sinaloa.