Former Cheniere Energy executive Doug Shanda is now at the helm of a Houston company seeking to build an liquefied natural gas export terminal along the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
In a Monday morning statement, Houston liquefied natural gas company Mexico Pacific Limited announced that Shanda has been named as president and CEO. Shanda is taking the reins of the company from Josh Loftus, a former GE Oil & Gas executive who had served as president since May 2018.
Mexico Pacific Limited is seeking to build an LNG liquefaction plant and export terminal along the Pacific Coast in Puerto Libertad, Sonora. The proposed facility would receive low-cost natural gas from the Waha Hub in the Permian Basin of West Texas through an already existing cross-border pipeline.
Primarily focused on the Asian market, shipments from the proposed facility would not need to pass through the Panama Canal, cutting down on shipment times and costs.
“Doug brings extensive LNG project development, construction and operations experience from senior leadership positions at some of the most prestigious North and South American LNG companies,” Mexico Pacific Limited Board Chair Page Maxson said in a statement. “His depth of experience and proven leadership capabilities will further accelerate MPL’s trajectory through FID into the construction and commencement of operations.”
Shanda left Cheniere on Jan. 30 but had been with the company since October 2012 and rose through the ranks for his work in helping to develop the company’s Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana and the Corpus Christi LNG export terminal in Texas.
A veteran of the liquefied natural gas industry for over 25 years, Shanda had worked for several years on the Peru LNG project in South America prior to joining Cheniere.
Originally proposed in 2017 and financially supported by the New York private equity firm AVAIO Capital, Mexico Pacific Limited has spent the last three years obtaining permits on both sides of the border and trying to secure contracts from customers.
The U.S. Department of Energy issued a Dec. 2018 permit to Mexico Pacific Limited allowing the company to export natural gas from the United States via pipeline and sell it as LNG to customers in non-free trade agreement nations such as China, South Korea, Japan and India where natural gas prices are higher than domestic prices.
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