Energia Costa Azul LNG Plant Faces Closure (Mexico)

After a four-year legal battle surrounding ownership of a parcel of land that acted as a “set back cushion” required to run its Energia Costa Azul LNG plant in Baja California, MX in compliance with Mexican environmental and safety regulations, Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy company, has suffered a major legal blow, according to Ramon Eugenio Sanchez Ritchie, after a Mexican Circuit Court ruled against the company’s claim to the land; effectively rendering the facility inoperable.

Unbeknownst to Sempra investors, the land in question has been under litigation since 2006 when Sempra first began its legal battle against the landowner, Ramon Eugenio Sanchez Ritchie, a prominent rancher in Colonia Costa Azul, where Sempra’s LNG plant is located, 15 minutes south of Ensenada.

“Ramon was fraudulently accused by Sempra as being a ‘squatter’ when in fact the Court resolved that Sempra utilized a sham Purchase Contract to remove him from his land, then sought to imprison and plunder his property in order to advance its business operations,” said C.E. Cortes, Hispanic Communications Director for Gateway Media Group, which represents Sanchez Ritchie.

“Ramon and his family have been terrorized by this company and now Sempra and its investors will be held accountable for their illegal dealings.”

Despite being a publicly traded company, Sempra Energy failed to file the required SEC disclosure concerning the initial lawsuit in 2006 regarding this piece of land that is vital to its operations.

The company also failed to file an SEC disclosure regarding a ruling by the Fifteenth, Second Collegiate Circuit Court in Mexicali, Baja California, MX, handed down May 25, 2010, which in effect places the company out of regulatory compliance and renders the LNG facility inoperable.

Closure of this facility would effectively close the pipeline to much-needed natural gas supply to the Northern region of Baja California, Southern California, and Arizona gas markets, which will stress natural gas supplies in those regions.

[mappress]

Source: prnewswire, June 17, 2010;