A unit of energy infrastructure company IEnova, the Mexican subsidiary of U.S. firm Sempra Energy, said on Monday that Mexico’s state power company CFE had awarded it a 25-year contract to build and operate a natural gas pipeline in the north of the country. IEnova said in a filing it had been awarded the contract for the Ojinaga-El Encino pipeline project in northern Chihuahua state. The IEnova unit, Gasoducto de Aguaprieta, secured the international tender with a winning bid of $298.9 million. CFE has said the 254-km natural gas pipeline will need an investment of about $400 million. Earlier this year, CFE announced various infrastructure projects near Mexico’s northern border with the United States that are part of the company’s aim to boost U.S. natural gas imports and help lower electricity rates via cheaper inputs and more modern power infrastructure.