Education Partnership for Mexican Engineers

Mexican government prepares for natural gas pipeline expansion

The Mexican government has been working to change the paradigm of its energy sector, opening up opportunities for private companies to contribute to the development of the oil and gas industry in the country. This historic step is the cornerstone of ensuring Mexico’s competitiveness in the coming years.

Training young professionals in pipeline construction and management

As is the case with any ambitious expansion, however, there are some challenges to be met. One of these is human resources.

In Mexico there are very few academic institutions that can provide training for technicians to meet the current and future demand that the sector will need.

To address this situation, TransCanada led an initiative, supported by the government of the State of Chihuahua, home of TransCanada’s El Encino-Topolobampo pipeline, aimed at training young professionals in pipeline construction and management.

University of Calgary welcomed 20 students from State of Chihuahua

In collaboration with the University of Calgary, a program was developed to bring 20 Mexican students from that state. The students were chosen to participate in a semester-long pipeline specialization program a the Schulich School of Engineering in Calgary.

When the El Encino-Topolobampo pipeline is completed, Chihuahua will have a total of 530 km of pipeline crossing the state, so these students will be very valuable to the multiple pipeline firms that are working there.

Mexico’s Ministry of Energy plans future education collaboration in Alberta

The students have recently arrived back in Mexico where they hope to will join the workforce in the near future. They are eager to start applying their new skills and knowledge.

Mexico’s Ministry of Energy, SENER, recently announced a collaboration agreement with the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta to continue developing programs like the one initiated by TransCanada, to ensure Mexico’s labour force is well prepared to meet the demands of the newly developing energy industry in the country.

Supporting expansion of Mexico’s essential resources

TransCanada supports Mexico’s decision to encourage expansion of the use of natural gas, a cleaner, more cost-efficient source of energy.

One such opportunity is a dramatic expansion of Mexico’s natural gas pipeline network. Over the past few years, TransCanada has been awarded several contracts for building, maintaining and operating natural gas pipelines, which will secure the supply of natural gas to most of the country.

In November, 2014, TransCanada brought the Tamazunchale Pipeline into service. The US $600-million extension was a true testament of our ability to engineer and manage projects over extremely rugged terrain.

Looking to the future, the Topolobampo and Mazatlan projects, along with the recently awarded Tuxpan-Tula pipeline, will bring TransCanada's Mexican asset base to US $3 billion by 2017.