Marathon drops LNG facility plans

Marathon Oil is abandoning plans to build a $1.7 billion energy center in Tijuana, Mexico, after state officials expropriated the land on which the project was to have been built.

Baja California state officials said they seized the property Feb. 28 to clear up confusion over ownership due to overlapping property titles. Marathon told The San Diego Union-Tribune it was “surprised and disappointed” by the move, which forced it to kill the project. The government’s action “is obviously a signal that they will not support the project,” Marathon spokesman Paul Weeditz said.

Marathon intended to build an energy center which would have included a liquefied natural gas terminal, two power plants, a wastewater treatment facility and a desalination plant south of the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood.