In the early 1920’s when the West Texas Refiners Company inadvertently discovered the largest natural gas well in America while drilling for oil in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, there were no large markets for natural gas nor was there any way to move the gas to market. Oil well developers had no choice. Burn off the unwanted by-product.

Today, there’s nothing inadvertent about the natural gas industry and the San Juan Basin has grown to become one of the nation’s top natural gas-producing areas. San Juan Basin natural gas is used throughout the Southwestern U.S. and California for heating and power generation.

San Juan County may be the nation’s most overlooked area for new clean hydrogen or petrochemical manufacturing production!

The San Juan Basin has inexpensive and abundant natural gas reserves, with typical annual production exceeding 700 billion cubic feet. In 2014, northwestern New Mexico natural gas production reached 430 billion cubic feet from conventional gas wells and 281 bcf from coal seam wells, according to the American Chemical Society Publications.

San Juan County’s natural gas is shipped to interstate markets from several local processing plants through the “Blanco Hub,” a major network pipeline center. Value is added elsewhere like Houston.

However, because of the long transportation distances to market San Juan Basin natural gas often sells at a substantial discount relative to the Henry Hub benchmark clearing price. Not great for local producers, but a superb opportunity for someone looking to add value to San Juan Basin natural gas right here in San Juan County.

To gain a really great perspective, watch the video below made especially to celebrate the 100th anniversary of natural gas in the basin.

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Four Corners Economic Development (4CED) and its investor members in the natural gas production and servicing industries want to see new value-adding clean hydrogen and petrochemical manufacturing development occur right here in San Juan County.

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  • Hillcorp (Bloomfield) Processing Facility
  • El Paso Natural Gas (Val Verde) Processing Facility and Compression
  • Harvest Four Corners Compression (Hilcorp)
  • Energy Transfer (Ignacio Plant) Processing and Compression
  • El Paso Natural Gas Processing and Compression
  • El Paso Natural Gas (Chaco Plant) Processing and Compression

CompanyPipelineRouteProduct
Kinder Morgan EnergyEPNGNatural GasCalifornia, Arizona, Texas
 Trans ColoradoNatural GasCalifornia
 Southern TrailsNatural GasCalifornia
 Cortez PipelineCO2Texas
Energy TransferNorthwest PipelineNatural GasWashington
 Trans WesternNatural GasCalifornia, New Mexico, Texas
Enterprise Products4 Corners PipelineNatural Gas LiquidsTexas
New Mexico Gas CoMainlineNatural GasAlbuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos
Navajo Oil & GasRunning HorseOilAlbuquerque, Texas
Western RefiningCINZA PipelineOilAlbuquerque, Texas
Holly Energy Refined ProductsFrom Artesia Refinery
     

plant imageThe table is set and the “red carpet” is out for clean hydrogen and petrochemical manufacturers!

In addition to its prolific reserves, San Juan County’s workforce offers a clean hydrogen and petrochemical manufacturer vast knowledge of the industry developed through decades of experience. Throw in a business-friendly government, strongly supportive community leadership and the variety of State of New Mexico and local tax and financing incentives there are compelling advantages to having your clean hydrogen or petrochemical manufacturing facility in San Juan County, NM.

Contact 4CED to learn how your clean hydrogen and petrochemical manufacturing company can be successful in San Juan County today!

 

Oh, and by the way…Here are some products derived from Natural Gas

  • Urea, used for fertilizers
  • Propylene, used in industrial chemicals and the production of polypropylene
  • Polypropylene, used for nonwoven clothing, consumer good packaging, plastics across many industries
  • Hydrogen, from methane reforming, used for fuel cells, agriculture and energy