The bid period of binding open season will begin Aug. 13 for the expansion of the Mier-Monterrey Pipeline belonging to a Kinder Morgan Inc. subsidiary, KMI said July 28.

Kinder Morgan Gas Natural de México S. de RL de CV owns and operates the 85-mile pipeline. It has been in service since 2003 and stretches from Starr County, Texas, to Monterrey, Mexico, at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The pipeline connects to a 1,000-megawatt power plant complex and to the Pemex natural gas transportation system.

The Mier-Monterrey pipeline could carry about 1.340 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. The existing pipeline will be looped from the Mexico-U.S. border to Huinalá, Nuevo León, Mexico. There will be a new lateral from Pesquería, Nuevo León, Mexico, to Escobedo, Nuevo León, Mexico. The expansion is scheduled for completion by fourth-quarter 2017.

The open season ends Aug. 22.

“We received significant interest from our initial open season on this project as natural gas demand in Mexico continues to increase,” said Kinder Morgan Natural Gas Midstream President Duane Kokinda.

“The proposed looping project utilizes and expands upon our existing assets to provide a low-cost option for additional capacity to transport natural gas produced in the United States to the growing industrial and power-generating markets in and around Monterrey, Nuevo León.”

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. is North America’s largest energy infrastructure company.