Access to both affordable and reliable energy sources is essential to meet social needs, boost economic growth, and promote human development, especially in emerging economies such as Mexico. In that sense, natural gas is a key element for Mexico’s energy transition.

It is well known that innovation leads to competitiveness. Choosing to be pioneering means committing to discovering and creating new ways of generating shared value. Thus, companies that have made part of their purpose to “build a prosperous future for Mexico through natural gas” have had to innovate in order to achieve this aspiration.

Recently, Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) authorized Jaguar -the private operator with the largest number of blocks and land allocation areas in Mexico- to use an innovative production technology: a virtual gas pipeline that allows compressing natural gas directly from the mouth from the well, and then take it by truck to consumers.

Now, this method will allow natural gas to become an affordable and reliable source of energy in areas where there is no distribution infrastructure. Over time, this has the potential to help Mexico increase domestic natural gas consumption.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), natural gas has played a fundamental role so that, worldwide and since 2000, “more than one billion people” have access to reliable energy sources. This trend will continue for decades to come, allowing Mexican hydrocarbon exploration and production companies to provide solutions to resolve the lack of access to energy that affects vulnerable Mexican population.

As the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness A.C. has recently said, the key to the development of Mexico’s south-southeast region is natural gas. “Due to its cost, availability, efficiency and lower environmental impact”, natural gas is an excellent bridging resource, while renewable energies are gaining ground in the local energy matrix.

By joining forces with communities and authorities, Mexican natural gas producers have a key to unlock the country’s path towards energy transition. Taking advantage of the power of natural gas, Mexico can efficiently generate electricity while at the same time promote responsible industrial productivity, positively impacting the environment, the economy and society.

Companies such as Jaguar will continue to bring natural gas and its many advantages to people, leading the transformation of the country’s energy matrix through an affordable energy source.

* Joel Abraham Enríquez is Chief Governance Officer (CGO) & Corporate Affairs at Jaguar Exploration and Production, responsible for strategic communications, legal counsel, security, CSR & BC. He is also a member of the Young Advisory Council of The US-Mexico Foundation, a binational non-profit organization dedicated to fostering bilateral cooperation and improving the understanding between the United States and Mexico by activating key people in the relationship that once were dormant. Twitter: @usmexicofound