As Sempra's international arm, Sempra Energy International develops, operates and owns energy projects outside the United States. The company is involved in joint ventures providing natural gas and electricity services to 2.5 million customers in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
    The executive management team running Sempra Energy International includes Donald Felsinger, chairman; Darcel Hulse, president; Dennis Arriola, executive vice president; and George Liparidis, senior vice president.
Following is a country-by-country breakdown of the division's efforts:

• Mexicali — Sempra Energy International is part of a binational consortium named Distribuidora de Gas Natural de Mexicali, S. de R.L. de C.V., that won the first license awarded to a private company to build a natural gas distribution system in Mexico. On Aug. 20, 1997, DGN began delivering gas to customers in Mexicali, Baja California. DGN will invest $22 million to provide service to 25,000 customers by 2002. Proxima Gas, S. A. de C.V., a group of prominent Mexican business people, is a project partner.
• Chihuahua — Sempra Energy International has partnered with Proxima Gas, S. A. de C.V., to form Distribuidora de Gas Natural de Chihuahua, S. de R.L. de C.V. (DGN), which distributes natural gas to the city of Chihuahua and surrounding areas. On July 9, 1997, DGN assumed ownership of a 16-mile transmission pipeline serving 20 industrial customers. The deal marked the first time that Pemex, Mexico's state-run oil monopoly, transferred natural gas assets to a private company. DGN will invest nearly $50 million to provide service to 50,000 customers by 2002.
• Rosarito — On Aug. 27, 1998, the Mexican Federal Electric Commission awarded Sempra Energy International a 10-year contract to provide natural gas to the Presidente Juarez power plant in Rosarito, Baja California. The contract includes provisions for delivery of up to 300 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, transportation services in the United States and construction of a 23-mile pipeline from the U.S.-Mexico border to the plant. Construction of the pipeline began in San Diego on May 20 and is expected to be completed in December.
• La Laguna-Durango — On May 18, Sempra Energy International was awarded the license for building a natural gas distribution system in the La Laguna-Durango geographic zone. The project is unique in that it serves cities in two different states, Coahuila and Durango. As part of the license, Sempra assumed control of 43 kilometers of steel transmission pipeline serving 22 industrial customers. The company will invest more than $40 million to reach 50,000 customers by the fifth year of operation.

• Sempra Energy International owns a 21.5 percent interest in two Argentine natural gas utility holding companies, Sodigas Pampeana, S.A., and Sodigas Sur, S.A. The distribution companies serve 1.2 million customers in central and southern Argentina, respectively, and have a combined output of 650 million cubic feet per day.

• On June 9, Sempra Energy International and PSEG Global acquired a 90 percent stake in Chilquinta Energia S.A., the third-largest electricity distributor in Chile, for about $840 million. Chilquinta Energia distributes electricity to 405,000 customers in central Chile. As part of the transaction, the two U.S. partners also acquired Energas S.A., which distributes natural gas in Chile, with a goal of reaching 50,000 customers by 2004.

• The acquisition of Chilquinta Energia includes 37 percent of Luz del Sur S.A., the second-largest electricity distributor in Peru, serving 690,000 customers in the southern zone of metropolitan Lima.

• Sempra Energy International has been awarded the economic bid by the government of Uruguay to build separate natural gas and propane distribution systems to serve most of the country, excluding Montevideo. The project is in the final stages of development and is pending execution of a concession agreement with the government.